The Charms Challenge
by flying-cars
Summary: "It doesn't need a name," Remus said. "What you're doing isn't a game, Prongs. This is Lily, and how she feels, and her friendship. Not some trivia show about winning the grand prize."
1. Chapter 1

It was seventh year, at last. Lily was just as nervous as she was excited. What would this year hold for her? NEWTs, of course. But there was no need to worry about that yet, not when she had more immediate problems. James Potter was walking down the train towards her. Lily braced herself for something; a proposal, a gift, a sonnet. James liked to start the year off with a bang.

But, James just kept walking past her. No saunter, no strut, not even a wink in her direction. He just politely squished himself to the side of the train and squeezed past her. Lily was so shocked she squeaked out a "Hi James!"

He didn't turn. "Hey, Lily. Nice summer?" He didn't wait for an answer. He turned into a compartment and left Lily alone.

It's not that the encounter was rude, per se. Lily just didn't know how to handle the sudden change in demeanour.

James was just as confused. _She had initiated conversation, you idiot! Go back and talk to her! _James' mind was screaming at him. Why did he just brush Lily off? Merlin, he must be going crazy. He was ready to sit down, but looked up to greet his friends. Unfortunately, there was only a group of three first years in the compartment, who were staring up at him in fright. James had screwed up in his attempt of a quick getaway.

He thought quickly on his feet and cleared his throat. A kind smile was sent their way. "Hey guys!" James greeted. "And girl," he added, seeing a girl sitting on his right. That made four. "I'm James Potter, the Head Boy for this year!" They looked even more scared than before. James rubbed his neck. "You probably don't know what that means. Anyway, I just came in to wish you a good start at Hogwarts, you're going to love it. And if you have any questions or get lost, or absolutely anything, you can come up and talk to me or the Head Girl." James stopped here, as he didn't know who the Head Girl was yet.

_Of course it will be Lily, you fool._

When the first years simply nodded at him, James left the compartment quickly. To his relief, Lily was no longer waiting outside. He scurried along the walkway to find his mates.

* * *

Lily, when walking away from James in a shocked stupor, passed the Marauder's compartment. Lily only briefly looked in, looking for her own friends, but did notice James' absence. She wondered whose compartment he went into before.

Nearly stumbling into the food trolley and blushing bright red the whole way, Lily finally found her friends Hestia Jones and Marlene McKinnon, gossiping over some _Witch Weekly _magazine. Lily thought they were rubbish.

"Found out who Head Boy is yet?" Hestia asked curiously. Lily almost slapped herself; that was the reason she was out and about in the first place! Of course, her conversation with James did shock her to the core…  
"No, but I'll be surprised if it's not Remus," Lily admitted, sitting near the door and checking her watch. She had to go to the prefect's carriage soon to greet everyone. And the Head Boy. Something bubbled in the pits of her stomach.  
"Well, until then, eat some frogs, Lily. You look awful," Marlene said honestly, handing Lily a chocolate frog. Lily placed it beside her.  
"No thanks, I'm on a diet," Lily said quietly.

Shocked stares were sent her way. "What?" Marlene demanded.  
"Lily, you are _not _on a diet," Hestia said immediately. "You're skinny enough as it is."  
"Don't make the rest of us feel bad for eating lots of food," Marlene added. "Here, eat these frogs. They'll do you good."

Marlene tried to force it into Lily's laughing mouth. "Stop! I'm not on a diet, alright! I'm just not hungry!" Lily managed to push Marlene off her, who was looking confused.  
"Then why did you say you were on a diet, you idiot?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "I need to go now. Do I have chocolate on my face?"  
"No," Hestia laughed. "Best of luck!"

With a slam of the carriage door, Lily was on her way to the prefect's compartment at last. She was perhaps a tad late, but as Lily had planned to leave earlier than she needed to, she supposed she was running on time.

Lily slipped inside the compartment, which was warm and spacious. There was already a boy in there – the Head Boy, no doubt. He turned when Lily entered.

"James? What are you doing in here?" Lily asked, surprised by his presence.  
"I'm Head Boy," James said with a shrug. He handed out the badge for Lily to inspect. A big 'HB' was engraved onto the shiny metal. The badge did not lie.  
"But… how? You weren't even a prefect!" Lily's temper was rising. What was Dumbledore playing at? Remus must be distraught! She handed back the badge.  
"Calm down, Lily," James said gently as he pinned it to his robes. Lily suddenly remembered that she was meant to be changed by now, but had stupidly forgotten to. Where was her brain? "I offered it to Remus but he said no. Said that Dumbledore chose me specifically and probably just forgot it had to go to a prefect."

Lily was a bit ruffled at being told to calm down by _James Potter _of all people, and that she had forgotten to wear her robes but he hadn't, but listened to and accepted his explanation. She was going to have a nice chat with Dumbledore once she was at school!

A light knock on the door and Remus poked his head through. "Is it safe to come in?" he ventured. James chuckled and Lily smiled tightly.  
"Of course, Remus. Just sorting out a few technicalities."  
"Yes, the issue of the badge," Remus murmured. Lily thought he looked very tired, and remembered it was a full moon just a few nights before. "I wonder what Dumbledore has planned."

"Well, shall we call the meeting to order?" James asked Lily quietly as the prefects trickled in. She nodded.


	2. Chapter 2

"What?!"  
Lily shrugged on her robes. "You heard me. James is the Head Boy. And I forgot to wear my bloody robes for the meeting! What kind of first impression is _that!_" Lily was more irked about that than anything.  
"James wasn't even a bloody prefect!" Marlene insisted. "Dumbledore can't break his own rules."  
"I'm going to ask him about it at school," Lily told Marlene and Hestia, who had remained silent.  
"How do you feel about this?" Hestia asked suddenly. Good old Hestia; always looking out for your feelings.

But this question stumped Lily. She didn't know. She realised that being more embarrassed over forgetting to wear her robes than being angry over James was completely out of the ordinary for her. "I feel fine," Lily said honestly. "I mean, it's not like he was a giant ass about it. He was great in the meeting; he led it perfectly even though he's never been witness to one."  
"I bet Remus told him what to say," Marlene sniggered. Lily frowned.  
"Maybe." But she didn't agree. Lily knew Remus' style. Proper, formal, to the point. James was… cheerful, humorous (but not too much), and polite.

Actually, that didn't sound like James at all, Lily remembered. James was arrogant, and cocky, and rude, and…

"Time to get off, Lily."

* * *

The Hogwarts feast was magnificent as always. Everyone at the Gryffindor table dug in with gusto after the Sorting, and the usual loud chatter filled up the Hall. The Marauders were at one end of the table, near the doors. Lily decided to sit at the front, next to the newly-sorted first years. There were very little of them this year.

But Lily was not very talkative to the first years, oh no. She was far too busy eyeing off Dumbledore, determined to understand why he would pick James. Dumbledore was (obviously, Lily thought suspiciously) not looking at her, and was very carefully keeping his eyes on his plate. Except for when he spoke to the other professors.

Eventually, dessert was over and Dumbledore rose to speak. Lily was very interested in what he had to say for himself.

"Hello, welcome, good to see you!" he began cheerfully. "I am very pleased to announce our new Head Boy and Head Girl for this year, James Potter and Lily Evans!" After polite applause, he continued. "To the first years, a wonderful year of learning awaits you. To the fifth and seventh years, I trust you will all be studying very hard for your upcoming OWLs and NEWTs." A stern look was sent to the Marauders, which caused many giggles at Gryffindor table. The marauders were never seen studying. "Now, Mr Filch has asked me to remind you of a few key school rules that many of you apparently seem to have forgotten, which includes no magic in the corridors, no wandering about the castle after curfew…"

Lily tuned Dumbledore out while looking attentive. It was a skill she had mastered long ago that no one had discovered.

Dumbledore not having anything to say about James' exception didn't surprise Lily. He would hardly give the entire school an explanation, especially when his say is final. He was probably planning something… but what?

"… Of which can be found attached to Mr Filch's door. Now, let us join together in song, the most beautiful form of magic! Choose your tune and away you go!"

He waved his wand and the school's awful lyrics floated into the sky as everyone belted out in song. Lily sang heartily – it was going to be the last time she ever sang the song, after all – and could distantly hear the Marauders singing to a marching tune. Almost afraid to turn around, Lily gathered her courage and slowly turned her head. They were marching, two by two with their steps in sync, down the Hall. Their arms were swinging and their noses in the air. Seemingly randomly, they pulled Gryffindor's off their chairs to join in their march. It was quite a spectacle which amused Lily until she realised they were heading for her. With a quick facial recognition, she realised all of the other seventh year Gryffindor's were marching as well. This warmed Lily's heart, and when James pulled Lily off her seat, she picked up their tune and marched with them. She fell into line next to James, who grinned at her and sang louder.

They managed to do a lap around the Gryffindor table, ending at the doors once the song had finished. The marauders bowed and ran from the hall, laughing the whole way. Not knowing what else to do, Lily followed suit, and so did the other girls. Distantly, they heard Dumbledore dismissing the school.

Lily completely forgot her promise to interrogate Dumbledore about his bad choice.


	3. Chapter 3

"Not a bad way to start the year, Prongs," Sirius laughed, slapping James on the back. They were in the Gryffindor common room, having taken some secret shortcuts to get there quickly. The fire was roaring and hot. The seats were as red and squishy as ever.

"It's good to be home," Remus sighed happily, reclining on a couch. The others agreed heartily.  
"So seventh year. We have a prefect and a Head Boy in our ranks. Don't tell me you're going soft on us, Prongs," Sirius warned. "Because I have some great prank ideas for this year."  
"How many?" Peter asked. Sirius pretended to count on his fingers, got to six, then gave up.  
"Seventy two."

James cringed. "No way, man. One per month, that's our limit this year."  
"Who died and made you leader," Sirius grumbled, crossing his arms. "It's our last year! It has to be fun!"  
"It's also the most important year of our lives," Remus reminded Sirius. "I don't know if you realise this, Padfoot, but most of us don't have family inheritance to our names. Some of us will have to work for a living."

Sirius waved his hand. "And what a day that will be," he said dramatically. "Maybe I'll be a model."  
"I hear you have to be attractive for that profession," Peter said daringly. Sirius was shocked.  
"Why you little…" he leapt at Peter, who in his fright transformed into a rat, which meant Sirius jumped right over Peter and landed face-first on the floor. Peter transformed back quickly, laughter rocking his body. Sirius leapt at him again just as the portrait opened and the other seventh years floated in happily.

"That was pretty amazing," Marlene said immediately to the boys. Sirius ignored her statement and ran up to her, his hands gripping her upper arms.  
"McKinnon, am I attractive enough to be a model?" he asked desperately. His eyes shined with craze.  
"Of course, Sirius!" Everyone had long since learnt to just go along with whatever Sirius asked. The results were often messy if you didn't. Sirius' face relaxed. "I think the more important question here is why do you want to be a model?" Marlene said with a smile, gently pulling Sirius off. He shook his mane of hair out of his eyes.

"Remus was informing me of the secrets of the world," he said grandly. Remus rolled his eyes.  
"I told him that one day he'd have to get a job," he said bluntly. Everyone chuckled.  
"Hell will be upon us before Sirius willingly gets a job," Hestia teased.

After some more casual conversation, the girls went up to their dormitories. On a whim, James touched Lily's shoulder. She was the last to walk by and paused uncertainly.  
"Hey Lily," James began. Her wide green eyes were looking up at him curiously, and James got a lump in his throat. He swallowed. "Uh, thanks for joining in back there."  
Lily smiled. "No problem. Better than the alternative."

James wasn't keen to find out what the alternative was, but he guessed it contained lots of screaming and arguing about immaturity or something, so he said goodnight to Lily and she walked away. He turned back to his mates with a grin on his face.

They looked dumbfounded. "What on earth just happened then?" Sirius demanded. James shrugged and grinned. "I don't know, but I liked it!"

Far out of ear shot, up the stairs in the girls' dormitory, Lily was so excited to get back into classes that she couldn't sleep properly. She kept waking up throughout the night, all jittery and impatient. She wished her brain would just rest as she was going to need her energy tomorrow.

In the morning, as predicted, Lily felt like she didn't sleep a wink. She had bags under her eyes and was more pale than usual. Descending down the stairs, Lily's book bag felt much heavier than it normally was. In reality, it was much lighter compared to her other years at Hogwarts – as NEWTs focused primarily on practical work, the theory work was less, which resulted in thinner books.

"Good morning, sunshine!" Marlene greeted Lily when she finally made it down to breakfast. "You forgot to brush your hair this morning."  
Horrified, Lily grabbed a spoon and immediately began checking her reflection. "Seriously?" She ran her fingers through her hair. Marlene laughed and handed over a hair tie.  
"A bun will hide the knots," she suggested. Lily took her advice and tied her luscious but knotty hair into a loose bun.  
"Thanks," she said gratefully, then dug into some toast. "What do we have today?"  
"Charms, Potions, then Transfiguration."  
"Excellent."

* * *

"I'm testing out a new teaching method," Professor Flitwick announced once everyone had settled. "And it involves a seating plan. So from now on you will have to sit in the place I sit you in, and anybody who dares try otherwise will experience…" His eyes twinkled and a dangerous grin appeared on his face. "Well, you'll find out. Now as I call your name, please come and sit in your designated seat. Lily Evans and James Potter, up the front."

Lily groaned. She knew this would happen. From the moment the words 'seating plan' were spoken, her stomach plummeted. Gathering her books, Marlene sent her a sympathetic look while the rest of the class sniggered. Flitwick ignored them.  
"Yes, yes. Our school's two Heads sitting together are a good idea, I think!"

Moving on, Flitwick smartly separated each of the Marauders, putting them each at a corner, and everyone else was shuffled in between. Lily was gifted with Marlene sitting on her right.

"God is real!" Lily whispered to herself, shooting her friend a relieved grin. Marlene smirked in reply. "This year should be fun, eh?" she said. Lily shrugged and looked at James through the corner of her eye. He seemed to be drawing something.

As it was, James was only half drawing. He was too busy thinking that Lily looked lovely today, with her red hair in a messy bun. It suited her face. He was sketching a snitch on some blank paper, which was badly drawn and had no detail whatsoever, besides the wings. Just about ready to give up on the drawing and erase it, Lily leaned over.

"It's good," she commented. James shrugged.  
"I can do better." Lily's lips pursed and James wondered what he said wrong this time. He tried to fix it. "I mean, when I actually put effort into it the snitch actually turns out realistic," he said hurriedly. Lily looked amused. "I was going to say," she said slowly, "that it's much better than I can do."

And with that compliment (it was a compliment right? James thought it definitely was a compliment) she returned to her work. James found himself grinning widely.

Now was a good time to ask her out, wasn't it? She was kind to him! James swerved in his seat to make eye contact with Sirius, who was also sitting at the front, but he wasn't looking at James. Disappointed, he turned again to find Remus – at the back right, exactly diagonal from James – who was staring at him curiously. James mouthed _now? _  
Remus shook his head vigorously. _No! _Remus didn't need to be within hearing range to know what James was referring to. It happened frequently enough.

James, dejected, looked at his parchment sadly. The magic words, _will you please be my girlfriend? _were etched permanently in ink. Before Lily would lean over and snoop, James set the parchment on fire.

"Excellent technique, Mister Potter!" Professor Flitwick praised from James' side. "Five points to Gryffindor!"

Lily looked at James from the corner of her eye jealously. James couldn't help but smirk. "Excellent. Not a bad start for Gryffindor for the House Cup, eh?"  
Straightening her shoulders, Lily huffed. "Just so you know, Potter, I can do that too."

James, of course, already knew that. However, James knew a good opportunity when he saw it (most of the time, anyway) and decided that he would take it. Talking to Lily made him happy.

"Prove it," he challenged her. With a determined look, Lily pulled some scrap parchment out of her bag, set it on fire, levitated the ashes in the air and shot them at his face. Flitwick scurried over quickly.  
"Miss Evans! What on earth are you doing?" he demanded crossly.  
"I'm sorry, Professor," Lily said, sounding as if she was about to cry. "The spell just went wrong, I don't know what happened!"

Suspicious, but accepting Lily's explanation, he walked away. Lily was a star student, after all, and she would never lie.

James patted Lily on the back, pretending to believe she was close to tears. "There, there," he cooed. "It's okay to mess up a spell every now and then. It was bound to happen one day!"  
With the tiniest hint of a grin on her face, Lily elbowed James in his side (he was so tall, her elbow reached his waist but not his ribs). "You shut up."  
"You lied," James whispered gleefully. "This is history right here. I'm glad I was witness to see this!"  
"I lie all the time," Lily said defensively. "I'm just so good at it, no one notices."  
"Prove it!  
Lily shook her head. "One challenge a day," she decided. "No more, no less."

The rest of the class went by rather quickly, meaning that Potions was soon upon Lily. Potions was with both Hestia and Marlene, which made Lily's day despite the class being with the Slytherins. They picked a station near the back of the classroom, far away from James' usual table. It appeared that he was skipping class.

"So how's the seating arrangement?" Hestia teased. The news of the teaching method had flown around the school in minutes, as usual with new gossip.  
"I'm sitting next to some Ravenclaw," Marlene shrugged. "But Lily is stuck next to James!"  
Hestia's expression was sympathetic. "So how many arguments did you have?"  
"None," Lily replied simply.  
"What? Have I missed something?" Hestia demanded. Marlene shrugged.  
"I don't know, Lils. I count you throwing ashes into his face and lying about it an argument," Marlene said honestly. Lily smiled.  
"That wasn't an argument, it was just…" She caught herself. Was she really about to say 'fun'? "It was a challenge," she finished quickly.  
Hestia and Marlene exchanged looks. "You have to tell us everything that happened in that class," they decided.

After the girls had gathered all of the needed ingredients for their potions, Lily told them everything that happened without leaving out a single detail. "I don't know," she finished. "He was just so nice."

A derisive snort came from behind Lily, and she spun to glare at the eavesdropper. To her surprise, it was Severus Snape, who hadn't spoken a word to her since the beginning of sixth year. To be fair, Lily hadn't exactly tried to stay on talking terms either. She was better without his acquaintance.

"Don't be stupid, Lily. Potter is not nice. He's probably got some giant prank cooked up just for you," he sneered. Lily glared.  
"Shut up, Snivellus," Hestia snapped.  
"If you're not careful, Snape, I'll get James to play a prank on you!" Lily threatened. Snape rolled his eyes.  
"So he's your little puppy now, is he? Your wish is his command or some messed up kink like that?"

Suddenly, bright green slime was poured over his head. It went through his hair, into his eyes, and down his robes. From behind him, Marlene let the cauldron drop onto Snape's head with a dull _thunk _and smirked proudly.  
"James isn't the only one looking out for Lily, you twat," she said loudly.

The class had erupted; with everyone wanting to know all the details of the incident, any possibility of work being done went out the window. Professor Slughorn was deeply red in the face and puffing madly, unused to this sort of ruckus in the dungeons.

Marlene had received detention for the little attack and it spread around the school like wildfire. Even the Marauders came up to her at lunch to congratulate her.

"Maybe next time we see him, his hair won't be so greasy," James said.  
Sirius smirked. "Well if not, we can always return it to its original state."  
As they walked away, Remus lingered behind. "I suppose that we might be joining you in detention," he admitted a bit sadly. Then he left to catch up with his mates.

Lily was giving Marlene an earful, though. "You really shouldn't have done that," she kept saying. "He's not worth it, and I feel awful for practically giving you detention!"  
"Lily, stop! You're Head Girl, for crying out loud. He needs to be more respectful. Besides, it was totally worth it," she grinned. "I'm liking all of this attention."  
"Careful there, if you keep this up the Marauder's might actually recruit you," Lily teased. Marlene giggled.  
"After today, Lily, I'm wondering if it would be so bad."


	4. Chapter 4

It was Tuesday, which meant no Charms class. Ancient Runes, Herbology and Transfiguration made up Lily's day. Hestia was Lily's friend of the day, with Marlene joining in Transfiguration. Together, Hestia and Lily went to Ancient Runes after a filling breakfast.

"I swear, it doesn't matter what you eat here," Hestia huffed as the two walked up the flights of stairs, "You'll work it off that day anyway!" Lily grinned, as Hestia was stick thin and never gained any weight. "How are you feeling?" Hestia asked Lily. She was watching Lily carefully from the corner of her eye, and noticed her sigh.  
"I feel fine, honest. It's only the second day back, I'm not exactly stressed about homework yet," Lily teased. Hestia smiled but shook her head. "I was referring to the James situation. You haven't talked about it since Potions yesterday."  
Lily shrugged. "There's nothing to talk about, really. I'm just waiting to see what he's up to…"  
"You didn't let Snape get to you, did you?" Hestia guessed.  
"No! Of course not. But even you have to admit that what James is doing is a first. To be honest Hest…" Lily paused on the stairs and looked at her shoes shyly. "I kind of like it. I know I shouldn't, but I do."

Hestia gave Lily a one-armed hug. "As you should. Friendship is nice, you know," she smiled. "Much better than fighting every minute!  
Lily giggled. "Well, I am being patient this year. I have to concentrate on NEWTs, after all. I don't have enough time to be angry every day!"

Upon reaching the Ancient Runes classroom, Lily only momentarily wondered where James was now. She then shook her head, reminded herself that he didn't matter and there were more important things to think about.

Probably to Lily's displeasure, James had a free period with Sirius. They decided to go to the quidditch pitch for a fly, maybe even practice their skills. Sirius joined the Gryffindor team the year before as a beater, and James was thrilled to have his best mate on the team. He was so thrilled, he was even talking openly about Lily.

"You don't understand, mate," James said. They were floating above the scoring hoops, observing the school. "I think I love her. Honestly."  
Sirius was quiet. "You've been saying that for a long time though," he said eventually. James waved his hand. "How do you know what love is, anyway?"  
"I don't. But I feel… I can't explain it. It's good. She makes me feel good." James drifted off into his own little world, which Sirius knew consisted of Lily and Lily alone. "Surely asking her once won't ruin everything?" James wondered. Sirius grinned.  
"Well if all goes to shit, I'll date you, mate."  
James tried to push Sirius off his broom. "I'm serious!"  
"No, I am!"

They laughed and began chasing each other around the pitch, James summoning a quaffle to throw at Sirius' head.

* * *

"You could call it the Charms Challenge," Peter said suddenly. James looked up from his homework (he did his homework, believe it or not, but only when they were in the Room of Requirement).

"That's got a nice ring to it," James murmured.  
"The Challenge of Charms?" Sirius suggested, desperate to top Peter. James rolled his eyes.  
"You idiot."  
"It doesn't need a name," Remus said from behind a History of Magic textbook. "What you're doing isn't a game, Prongs. This is Lily, and how she feels, and her friendship. Not some trivia show about winning the grand prize."

James realised that Remus was right, but Sirius didn't understand. "But Lily is the grand prize! If Prongs wins her heart, he gets her, isn't that right Peter?"  
Peter shook his head. "Remus is right," he said quickly, avoiding Sirius' glare. Sirius intimidated Peter.

"Anyway," Remus continued loudly. "Your challenges should not aim to win her heart. You're first one was out of friendly banter and it should stay that way. She can challenge you too, you know. Don't start a civil war between yourselves."

Remus was always full of good advice, James thought. But Sirius' ideas were equally tempting. "You could always challenge her into dating you for a day," he whispered so Remus couldn't hear.  
"No he can't," Remus interrupted. Sirius' whispering skills were pitiful. "She can decline, you know."  
"Well you're a jumble of sunshine, aren't you?" Sirius grumbled. "Right, we need a plan. Screw pranking this year."

The looks of shock on each Marauder's face, including Sirius' which clearly said _did I just say that?_ would have been hilarious if Sirius wasn't so determined. He gathered his resolve.

"That's right. Pranking is not our priority. From now on, Prongs, my sole intent in life is to get you and Lily together."  
"And if you don't succeed?" Peter sniggered.

Sirius drew himself up to full height, shook his hair out of his face, and puffed out his chest. "I'm a Black. I always get what I want, and I always succeed."


	5. Chapter 5

"James!" Lily called out. James turned, saw Lily hurrying towards him and waited for her. When she caught up, she had a worried frown on her face.  
"What's wrong?" James asked quickly. Lily gestured for him to walk with her and they fell into step, James shortening his stride to match Lily's smaller one.  
"We've been at school for a week," she growled. James was confused.  
"I know that."  
Lily groaned. "Yes, but James, we haven't organised the prefect's patrol timetable or a Hogsmeade weekend! What kind of Heads are we?" She rubbed her face with her hands out of stress.

James was at a loss of how to comfort her. Regardless, James was good at planning. It was an essential part of pranking, after all.

"Well, how about this: I'll do the prefect patrol timetable and give it to you in a couple of days to look over and perfect. You can choose the Hogsmeade weekend and check it with Dumbledore." James was nodding to himself. It was a good plan, with the added bonus of him taking initiative and taking the bigger task without sounding too cocky about it.

Lily looked doubtful. "You can do the timetable by yourself?"

James pretended to be offended. "Of course!"  
"Well… alright. But you need to vary the patrol pairs because we want to promote inter-house unity. And factor in the fifth-year OWL study as well."  
James took mental notes. "But OWLs don't start for like, eight months."  
"Yes, so they'll start studying soon," Lily said firmly. James laughed.  
"How about we do this month's timetable and just redo it each month?"  
Lily thought over it. "That adds a bit of a workload… but we can handle it. It's a good compromise."

James observed Lily's face carefully. "Feel better?" he asked. Lily smiled and nodded. "Okay, well I'll get this done as soon as possible then."

He turned to walk away but Lily's hand on his arm made him pause. "James… thank you. You're not as bad at this as I thought you would be."  
This made James frown. "You thought I would be bad at this?" he asked, a tad hurt.  
"No! Well, maybe, but only because you have no experience doing this sort of thing and last year you were quite careless and I just didn't know what to expect from you and I'm just going to leave now before I make this situation worse than it already is okay? Okay, bye."

Blushing bright red, Lily scurried away from James, perhaps to organise the Hogsmeade weekend.

Lily's awkwardness made James smile. She was only being honest, and James didn't think that was anything to be embarrassed about. He appreciated honesty, which is why he always liked a bit of banter between them. Lily would always speak her mind and wouldn't hold back when arguing with James, which a lot of people did because they were intimidated or generally dishonest. Even a few people on the quidditch team dare not speak their thoughts in fear of getting kicked off the team.

James didn't think he was _that_ bad.

Upon realising he was still in the same corridor as he was when walking with Lily, was now five minutes late for class and had Care of Magical Creatures out on the grounds, James sped off at lightning speed.

James, Sirius and Remus were sitting in the Room of Requirement. Peter was already behind in Transfiguration work and had to stay in class late just to catch up. James wasn't doing homework, but since Remus was, James decided to join him and Sirius tagged along.

He had just sorted out the first two weeks of patrol when Sirius was obviously bored.

"I have an idea."  
"No. We're busy, Padfoot. This is important."  
"It's about Lily, James! Hear me out." Sirius pleaded with puppy dog eyes that were unsuccessful.  
"Yeah? Well so is this work. Let me finish first." James returned to the timetable.  
"But I'm so bored!"  
Remus sighed and put down his book. "Sirius, honestly. We're in the Room of Requirement. You ca literally do whatever you like."  
"Away from us," James added. Sirius frowned but sulked into a corner, conjuring some brooms to float on.

James continued to tap his wand on the parchment. "Remus, would you mind patrolling with a Slytherin fifth year?" he asked desperately.  
"Actually, yes. You're meant to keep age groups together, you idiot."  
"But Lily said to promote inter-house unity!"  
Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, not inter-age unity, Prongs. You have got to listen more often."  
"Whatever. You do it then. It's bloody difficult anyway!" James flung the timetable at Remus, who threw it back.  
"No. You are doing this for Lily. Show her you can do something on your own for once." Remus gave James a stern look until James backed down.  
"I have to restart the whole timetable now," he grumbled. "So if seventh years do the first shift on Monday, they can do the first shift on Friday as well… third shift Wednesday can go to sixth year Slytherins…  
"Inter-house unity, James," Remus reminded him. James growled in frustration. This was never going to get done!

Eventually, Remus took pity on James. "Okay, fine. How about you make a list of each prefect. There are two fifth, sixth and seventh years from each house, so that makes twelve. Thirteen including you. So, randomly allocate three from each house throughout the week." Remus tapped his wand on the parchment and three Gryffindor prefects appeared on the table.  
"I need to patrol with Lily," James said.  
Remus looked suspicious. "That's not a school rule."  
"Well, it'll make us look good."

With a sigh, Remus tapped his wand and the names _James and Lily _appeared in red (to represent Gryffindor, of course) every Thursday, second shift. Eventually, James caught on to what Remus was doing and took over, finally filling up the timetable appropriately. Each pair was made up of students from different houses, besides his patrols with Lily. Exhausted, he decided he'd had enough of work and called Sirius back.

"Finally!" Sirius shouted from the air. He was hanging upside down from an old broom. He dropped to the ground only to land on a soft mattress that was not there before. Sirius had really mastered the room.  
"So, plans for Lily. Yes. I was thinking of a ball?"


	6. Chapter 6

James handed Lily the timetable the day after she requested it. He sat next to her at breakfast, and gave her the timetable with a smug smile. Upon close inspection, she pursed her lips and nodded.  
"What, what's wrong with it?" James asked immediately. Lily shook her head.  
"Nothing."  
"Remus helped me with it," James elaborated. This made Lily laugh.  
"Yes, I can tell. It's just… when I said _promote _inter-house unity, I meant _promote _and not _force._"  
James was confused. "I don't understand," he admitted. Lily hesitated before showing him the parchment.

"Fifth years in particular will want the comfort of patrolling with their friends," Lily explained. She tapped her wand to rearrange the names. "Having them patrol in houses is fine for a few months. Sixth years, they need to be switched, but should also get the benefit of their friends. Same goes for seventh. So if we just tweak it a bit…" As she tapped her wand again, more names rearranged themselves. James could see house colours paired together. "And no one wants the same shifts each week, and you can't give the Slytherins all of the bad shifts!" But with a smile, she only changed one or two of them.

"You could have done this in minutes," James said grumpily as he helped himself to some breakfast. Lily bit her lip. "How long did it take for you?"  
"I did an hour on my own, which got me to the second week. Then Remus stepped in and we changed the whole thing, which took another hour."  
"This is what I meant when I said it was a lot of effort," she murmured and chewed some bacon. "Anyway, I checked with Dumbledore last night, and the Hogsmeade weekend will be the first weekend of October."  
"Great. I'll get Peter to make up some posters," James said, but Lily disagreed.  
"We're the Heads! We should do it! Or we could get a professor to do it?"  
James grinned. "Nah, Peter loves arts and crafts."  
"If you're sure…" Lily looked uncertain, so James grinned reassuringly at her. "Just don't make them too gaudy. Basic stuff, okay? They have to go in each common room."

"Everything will be fine," James said confidently. "Trust me."

Lily wasn't convinced she could, but James didn't have time to reassure her. He had to go to Transfiguration, and his mates were leaving without him! "I'll see you later," he said to Lily before running off after his mates. He reached Sirius' side and slowed to a walk.

"Do you remember the plan?" Sirius asked for the fourth time that morning. James nodded.

The pressure of Sirius' request meant that Transfiguration wasn't exactly a breeze for James that day. He had been coerced by Sirius to ask McGonagall a massive favour at the end of class – _"Minnie likes you more than she likes me!" _– and James couldn't concentrate properly. Sirius, of course, lazily flicked his wand. His desk turned into an armchair.

When Professor McGonagall noticed Sirius lounging in his chair making fun of James' failure, she came over. "Mister Black, what do you think you're doing?" she demanded. Sirius looked pleasantly up at her stern face.  
"Minnie, you look wonderful today! Has anyone ever mentioned how young you look? There isn't a wrinkle on your face!"  
Professor McGonagall frowned. "That does not answer my question at all. From this, I am going to infer that you are doing absolutely nothing but wasting time in my class."  
Sirius shook his head. "No, ma'am." Wasting time in McGonagall's class resulted in detentions. "I was just about to add decoration to my armchair, a bit of charm work, you know?"

With a sound of contempt, McGonagall moved on. "Keep trying, Mister Potter," she said kindly.

When she was out of earshot, Sirius immediately began whinging. "See? She just bloody well adores you! What did I ever do to her anyway?"  
James figured that was a rhetorical question and deemed it inappropriate to mention all of the pranks Sirius had played on her throughout the years – including dyeing her bun bright purple and bewitching her glasses to crawl off her nose each time she tried to wear them.

James eventually managed to transfigure his desk into an armchair that vaguely resembled the Gryffindor couches, he thought, a few minutes before class ended. Sirius was still reminding him of the finer details of what he called Operation Minnie.  
"Don't forget to offer her a biscuit!" Sirius whisper-yelled as he walked out the door. James rolled his eyes and approached the professor.

"What can I do for you, Mister Potter?" she asked James as she packed up her teaching supplies. James grinned easily at her.  
"Well, we've had this great idea, you see," James began, noticing her eyebrow twitch at his use of 'we'. "We were thinking of having a Christmas ball, maybe with a masquerade theme? Or a sixties theme? We haven't quite decided on that yet. But since it's our last year, I thought that having some fun before NEWTs began would be a nice idea…"

McGonagall was leaning on her desk in thought. "I suppose we haven't had a ball in such a long time," she muttered to herself. She still sounded unconvinced though.  
"It's better than the Christmas prank Sirius had planned," James lied. Professor McGonagall frowned, but nodded.  
"Well, if you and Miss Evans joined me –"  
"Lily can't know," James said immediately. McGonagall was very curious.  
"And why is that?"  
James floundered for an excuse. "Because… um… well, it's a surprise you see."  
"A surprise for Lily?"  
"Actually, yes."  
Professor McGonagall smirked. "What makes you think you can plan an entire ball without her help or without her knowing about it? You are the Heads of the school together, you know."  
"I'm very much aware," James murmured, looking at his feet. Shyly, he admitted "I want to take Lily to the ball and I want it to be a surprise."  
"You know how quickly news spreads around this school," Professor McGonagall pointed out. James nodded. "I think we could probably keep it a secret up until a week beforehand. That should be plenty of time for students to buy appropriate attire, don't you think?"

James grinned at her. "I certainly hope so, Professor!"


	7. Chapter 7

James couldn't help it; he sauntered back to the common room. He was very pleased with himself. Everything had gone so smoothly! Now all he had to do was keep it a secret from Lily…

The portrait opened for James and he ducked his head to enter.

"Careful!" a girl yelled at him. James looked up in surprise.  
"Hestia!" he grinned. "I didn't see you there!"  
Hestia frowned. She reminded James of Professor McGonagall. "Yes, I know. You were looking down."

James gave her his best lopsided grin. "I'm sorry."

His grin turned out to be a big mistake. "You're trying to charm me," Hestia observed. "What are you planning?"  
"Nothing."  
"You liar! Are you planning another prank?" Hestia put her hands on her hips sternly. James shook his head.  
"Nah. No pranks this year," he said honestly.  
Hestia was very suspicious. "I want to believe you. Really, I do. But I don't trust you at all. So let me in on what you're doing or I'll tell Lily you're up to something."

James could not have that. Lily was ruthless and would not give in until he caved… and James knew how much he couldn't resist Lily.

"Please don't," James begged. A last resort, he knew. "It's top secret, and you can relax because McGonagall is on board with everything and so is Dumbledore…" he trailed off. Hestia's eyebrows were climbing further and further up her head.

"You have three hours to tell me everything," she decided. "Or I'm going to Lily."

The Fat Lady was very curious as to what was taking so long for her to close, but she could guess. "Are you going to stand there and smooch all day or are you going to get a move on and close me?" she shrieked.

"I'll tell you after dinner," James countered, and moved past her. In front of the fire, he could spy Sirius and Peter so he headed straight for them.  
"I've finished the posters!" Peter announced when he saw James. He had four notices in front of him, in the pastel colours of each house. A still picture of Hogsmeade was faded into the paper.

_HOGSMEADE WEEKEND!_

_First Weekend of October_

_(Saturday 5 to Sunday 6)_

_Reminder to all Third Years that permission slips must be signed by a parent or a guardian and handed to Mr Filch on the day._

"They look great, Peter!" James praised. Peter blushed a little. "Sirius, we're good to go. Minnie's on board." Sirius began whooping in joy.  
"I told you the biscuits would work!"  
James rolled his eyes. "Hang on! We just have a little setback."  
Sirius froze. "What type of setback?"  
James lounged back onto a couch. "Hestia's onto us."  
"Already! You're awful at keeping secrets, Prongs. You've leaked it already haven't you?" Sirius was only teasing, but he was still a little bit disappointed in his best mate. They swore absolute secrecy!

"I haven't. She doesn't know what's going on, but I have until after dinner to tell her what we're doing or she's going to Lily," James finished sadly.  
Peter shrugged. "Just tell her we're planning a prank."  
"I already told her Minnie and Dumbledore were on board," James admitted. Peter shook his head; James looked to Sirius for support, but he was deep in thought.

"This might actually be a good thing," he said slowly. "Hear me out. Hestia could keep Lily busy, deter any strange questions she might have, and help us plan the whole thing. She's a girl, she knows all about that stuff, right?" Sirius looked to his mates for confirmation.  
James and Peter shrugged, then nodded. "I guess so?"

Sirius jumped up onto his feet. "I am the king!" he yelled.  
"Sit down, you lunatic!"

* * *

At dinner, Lily was very curious as to where Hestia had disappeared to. She'd been sparse all day!

"Who are you looking for?" Marlene asked. In front of her, she had a combination of garlic bread, sausage, roast potato and gravy. Not a very colourful dinner, in Lily's opinion.  
"Hestia! I haven't seen her all day," Lily whined. Marlene snorted.  
"Well, you have been cooped up in the Library with Remus," she said fairly. "She probably had other things to do."  
"Yes, but _what? _What's wrong with the Library?" It was one of Lily's favourite places at Hogwarts and she was very protective of her haven.  
"It smells a bit, Lily. You know Hestia doesn't like bad smells."  
"The Library does not smell," Lily argued half-heartedly, but she let it go. Hestia had to show up sooner or later, right?

Lily looked up at the Professors, most of who were missing from the table. Dumbledore, notably, was absent. She was suddenly reminded of her promise to badger him about James and his Head Boy status. Lily realised she didn't care anymore. It is what it is.

"Hello, stranger!" Marlene said. Lily snapped to attention and saw Hestia sitting opposite her. "Lily was just complaining about not having seen you all day!"  
Hestia gave a tight lipped smile. "Sorry our classes don't always match up," she said. Her eyes were casting about the Hall.  
"Looking for someone?" Lily asked coyly.  
"Actually, yes. Have you seen James about?"

Marlene's eyebrows raised and Lily's stomach burned. "Why are you looking for him?" Lily demanded. Hestia wasn't looking at her. "Need to ask him something," she muttered. A few moments later, she jumped up from her seat and disappeared.

"What the hell is going on?" Marlene wondered. Lily shrugged. She definitely wanted to know, but Hestia wasn't hanging around to explain. Hestia had spotted James and without as much as a glance behind her she almost ran toward him. James had seen her coming, she knew, but he sat anyway. Cocky bastard.

"I said after dinner, Hestia," James grumbled. Or maybe that was his stomach that was growling. James was digging into his food with gusto.  
"I know, I know," Hestia said. "But if I sat with Lily a moment longer I was going to blow. I've been avoiding her all day, James. Do you know how hard that is?"

Hestia inferred that he did, and she was right.

"Please, James. I look very suspicious standing behind you. Grab some food and let's go already!" Hestia didn't know why she was so desperate to leave, but she knew it had something to do with Lily. She could definitely feel someone's eyes burning into her back.  
"Alright, fine! Geez."  
James filled his hands with pasties and bacon and left the Great Hall, Hestia right behind him. She didn't look back to see if anyone was watching her, she already knew they were.

"So what are you planning?" Hestia whispered once they'd left. James leaned against a wall, leaving Hestia to stand tall. She crossed her arms in front of her chest.  
"A Christmas Ball," James informed her.  
Honestly, Hestia was a bit let down. "That's it? A ball? You couldn't have told me that earlier?"  
James was shaking his head. "I had to check with the others to make sure it was okay you knew. It's top secret and absolutely nobody is allowed to know, especially Lily."  
"I'm not even going to ask why Lily isn't in on your plan," Hestia murmured, watching James blush a little. "But I'm sure I can guess. You are aware that Christmas isn't for another two months and we haven't even had Halloween or Hogsmeade yet?"

James shrugged. "Yeah, I know. But the Ball will take lots of planning and preparation. So…" James appraised Hestia's face very carefully. She looked a bit amused at his grand plan. "Do you want in or not?"

Hestia smiled. "Of course."


	8. Chapter 8

"So why do you hate Snape so much?" Lily asked suddenly. James stiffened.

They were in Charms class, once again. While the two had maintained a civil conversation, they definitely had not had a heart to heart. No personal questions had been asked whatsoever. So while James was pleased Lily appeared to want to extend the depth of their friendship, he was just as surprised to see her initiating it, and with _this _topic in particular.

"Getting straight to the point, are we?" James joked. Lily shrugged.  
"I'm just curious."  
James looked at Lily. "You know why. I've told you many times."  
"Right before asking me out, yeah, I remember," Lily muttered. "So that was the truth then? Because you think he's evil?"  
"I don't think he's evil," James snorted. "I know he is."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Can I ask a question in return then?" James wondered. Lily nodded after a moment.  
"I suppose that's only fair."  
James snickered. "Why do you hate Sirius so much?"  
"I don't hate him," Lily said quickly. Too quickly, in fact, and she knew James noticed. She tried to cover it up. "I mean, I don't particularly like him, I'll admit."  
"Yes, but why?" James urged. He would never admit it, but having the girl of his dreams hate on his best mate kind of hurt. Hurt a lot, actually.  
Lily sighed. "He's just so strange, compared to…" James tensed himself for the criticism. If she dared compare him to the rest of his family… "Well, Remus, I suppose. Don't you think he's a bit theatrical?"

James couldn't help but chuckle. Of course Lily wouldn't be so cruel as to judge him based on family. Lily was lovely, and accepting, and beautiful, and kind, and… "James? You listening?"  
He realised he'd been daydreaming of Lily, once again. He knew it was foolish, seeing as she was right beside him, but sometimes it was never enough.  
"Yeah, I'm listening. Sirius' dramatic tendencies are one of his best qualities though!"  
Lily shook her head. "I disagree."  
"That's still not a good reason to hate him, though," James said, getting the conversation back on track.  
"I never said I hated him, James."

His heart leapt every time he heard her say his name. He couldn't help it. Lily hadn't called him Potter all year… maybe once or twice…

"Challenge of the day," Lily said suddenly, with a grin on her face. "I challenge you to…"

James waited curiously. What would Lily have planned for him? Nothing dangerous, he was sure. Nothing cruel, either.

"You have to use Levicorpus on Professor Flitwick without him noticing it was you," Lily whispered through her giggles. "And if you end up in detention or lose house points you fail the challenge!"  
"And if I succeed?" James demanded. Lily thought for a second.  
"Well then I'll accept absolutely any challenge you ask me today. Deal?" Lily grinned mischievously. James quirked an eyebrow at her and grinned.  
"Absolutely. This is child's play."

Lily pursed her lips but was still smiling. "Off you go, then."

James looked for the professor, who was too short to be seen through the students and their desks. Eventually, he came within sight at the front of the room, heading for his desk. James hid his wand under the desk.  
"Levicorpus," he whispered.

Professor Flitwick, much to the class's surprise, was suddenly lifted into the air by his ankle. His head knocked into a stack of books on his desk. A loud cry of shock was heard.  
"James Potter!" Lily shrieked suddenly. "For Merlin's sake! You are Head Boy!" Lily's sudden shrieking made James panic and he quickly whispered the counter curse. Flitwick fell to the floor with an _oof!_ "I expected so much better from you than to play a petty prank on your Professor!" Lily was yelling.

With a smirk in James' direction, she hurried off to the front of the class with many other students to make sure Professor Flitwick was unhurt.

James was completely shocked. All that was running through his mind was _Lily tricked me! She actually tricked me! _Deep down, he was pleased to see Lily's rebellious side. On the surface, he couldn't believe Lily had played him like that.

Within minutes, Flitwick had restored order in the classroom and had the students in their seats. Lily was smug. "I knew you'd fail," she smirked.  
"Haven't been given any punishment yet," James retorted. But Flitwick was headed this way, and James was sure he'd lose the challenge.  
"Mister Potter," Flitwick began. "I certainly expected better of our Head Boy. You should be setting a better example of behaviour in our school. You know that it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt," Flitwick finished, rubbing the side of his head gently. "Surely you know how rough books can be on the skull!"

With that, Professor Flitwick turned away, and James was home free. Lily's jaw dropped. "No way," she whispered. "There is no way that actually happened."  
James could have danced. "I won the challenge!" he exclaimed gleefully. "Up your butt, Evans!"  
"How did you not get punished for that?" Lily was still in shock and was still speaking barely above a whisper. "I should have gotten you to do that to McGonagall. You would have gotten expelled."  
James grinned. "Nah, points at best. She would have expelled Sirius, though."

This made Lily chuckle. "Well, a deal is a deal. What is my challenge?" Lily asked.  
James smirked. "I challenge you…" He looked about the room for inspiration. He spotted Sirius in the corner. What would Sirius do? Some sexual fantasy, probably. "I challenge you to address me as 'Your Highness' without fail for the next two days. You have to end or begin every sentence with 'Your Highness'. You cannot laugh, or show any positive emotion when doing so. And if you forget," James paused here. "Well, let's just say it won't be pretty."

Lily was outraged. "That's degrading and awful and sick! There's no way I'm agreeing to that!"  
"A deal's a deal, Evans. Take it or leave it." James was having far too much fun.  
"Deals can be broken, Potter! I demand another challenge." Lily was flushing with anger.  
"Fine. Do exactly that challenge, but to Sirius."  
Lily moaned. "No way! Fine, I agree to the first challenge!"  
"No takesies-backsies." James grinned at Lily, who looked like she was about to cry. "Oh, come on, Lily. It's not so bad. You two barely talk!"

This appeared to comfort Lily.


	9. Chapter 9

Sirius sauntered down the Gryffindor table, looking for his favourite redhead. James had told him everything that happened in Charms, and he was thrilled. He had big plans for Lily.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked when he stumbled upon Lily. She looked up with a pleasant expression, which disappeared upon recognising Sirius.  
"Yes, Your Highness," Lily sneered. Sirius grinned in reply and sat.  
"Excellent! Pass me the peas, Lily darling."  
"No, Your Highness."

She was fuming and Sirius hadn't even been there for a minute! It was too beautiful. Sirius leaned across Lily rudely to get them himself. "Don't mind me, Lily-poo," he said cheerfully. "I won't be here long. Just filling in for Prongs."  
Lily thought that ignoring Sirius would be a good technique, but she couldn't resist giving snarky replies. "I can assure you that I won't miss your presence, Your Highness."  
"You wound me, Lily."  
"I'm aiming for death, Your Highness."

And James wondered why she didn't particularly like Sirius. He was taking far too much pleasure out of this.

Sirius started laughing. "Oh, Lily. You're far too much fun to be around. We'd be such good friends! A perfect match, don't you think, Prongs?" Without Lily noticing, James had snuck up behind her with a wide grin on his face. "Absolutely not. Now move, Padfoot. I can see you've done enough damage."  
At his command, Sirius stood and gave Lily a gallant bow. "I'll be seeing you again, Lily dear. Very soon."  
Lily refused to answer Sirius or look at James. Merlin, where were her friends when she needed them?

"So on a scale of one to ten, how kinky did Sirius get with you?" James asked. Lily clenched her jaw.  
"I'm not talking to you anymore," she said childishly.  
James placed a gentle arm around her neck. "Come on, Lily. Don't be sour because you lost a bet. A deal's a deal, right?" He removed his arm when he realised Lily was unresponsive. "I'll tell Sirius to be kinder. But now you know that refusing my challenges will only result in worse ones!"

Lily refused to admit that she had agreed to the challenge in the first place. A deal's a deal… what kind of saying is that anyway? James had hurt her feelings. He took it too far.

"You are never to do anything like this again," Lily said furiously. "With Sirius, of all people!"  
James looked confused. "Would you have preferred Remus?"  
"No!" James just didn't understand at all. "Merlin, Potter. You'd think that, you'd at least realised, how much effect this would have on me!"

Was Lily crying? Merlin. James saw a tear roll down her cheek. He pulled Lily into his side, and after a moments' resistance she allowed it. Only for a moment though.

"Sirius is a pureblood, James," Lily whispered. She moved away from his side and wiped her eyes. "You don't think I feel low enough of the class scale without calling him 'Your Highness'?"  
James was suddenly reminded that there was a war about to start over blood status, and Lily was considered less than wonderful. "I'm a pureblood too," James said dumbly. "I'm sorry. I forgot."  
"Yes, you did."

Lily did not say anything else, and James felt awful. "Okay, the deal is off. I'm not forcing you to do this anymore."  
"A deal is a deal," Lily argued. James shook his head.  
"No. Not if it makes you feel like this," he said firmly. "Next Charms class, we'll start fresh, and no more degrading challenges. No more trying to get me in trouble, either," he teased, hoping to get Lily to smile. It worked.  
"Well, I can't promise that," Lily smiled.  
"Neither can I." James paused for a moment, looking at Lily carefully. "I truly am sorry. It was meant to be funny and harmless, and I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."

Lily shrugged. "It's not okay," she said. "But you're forgiven."

That was the quickest the two had ever made up after an argument, and James would always remember it.

After dinner finished, James disappeared off to the seventh floor. The marauders had already spoken to Hestia about meeting them at the Room of Requirement; they were all waiting for James before they entered.

Inside, the boys followed Hestia around the room. Hestia had never been inside before, but had promised to keep it a secret, and with a quick tutoring lesson from Sirius had quickly mastered the controls, so to speak. After less than an hour, the room had gone through a gazillion different designs. The boys were exhausted.

"We should definitely have a masquerade theme," Hestia said firmly. "Much more romantic."

The room was currently an exact replica of the Great Hall, with the twelve Christmas trees and everything. Hestia was having a ball (forgive the pun) designing it.

"And icicles will hang from the roof like this," Hestia gestured to the roof, "and snow will float down. Blue would be a nice colour. Pastel blue."  
Remus was writing down notes. "You know, just because you can create it in this room, doesn't mean we'll actually be able to get it in the real Great Hall," he reminded Hestia. She waved off his concerns.  
"I've already told the room not to give me false hopes," she said casually. "Now, the tables. Round ones, with a white sheet covering them. The chairs should be straight backed but comfortable and have blue ribbons around them! Yes, that will look very nice."

James was smirking. "I thought I was planning the ball?"  
"You had your chance," Hestia replied. "I truly don't think a Gryffindor-themed ball would be a good idea."  
"Maybe we should make it for Gryffindor's only," Sirius suggested.  
"What a small party," Hestia murmured. "If you two want a Gryffindor theme, then you can have lions on your masks."

James and Sirius grinned at each other. "We can make them roar!" Sirius said excitedly. "And they can prowl over our masks! Hestia, that is a great idea!"

Hestia hid her face in her hands. "I was joking," she moaned.

Elsewhere in the castle, Hestia wasn't the only person struggling to stay on track. Marlene was watching Lily struggle with her homework. It was only Ancient Runes… Lily was good at it!  
"What's wrong, Lily?" Marlene asked finally, after Lily's fifth sigh.  
"I just can't concentrate," Lily replied stiffly. She hadn't told anyone about the incident with Sirius. "I can't stop thinking about…"  
"James?" Marlene guessed. When Lily didn't say anything, Marlene assumed she was right. "I don't blame you, Lily. He's not exactly the most unattractive guy around."  
"That's not it," Lily said. "I mean, I know he's attractive, I'm not blind. But there are so many sides to him that I've seen this month already that I would never have thought existed before!"

Marlene took a moment to think carefully about what she was about to say. "No one is ever black and white, I suppose. There are so many shades of grey that it's difficult to know yourself, let alone other people."  
"I want to, though, Marlene. I want to know him. And I don't understand why," Lily moaned. "After all these years… I never thought…"  
"James would catch your eye?" Marlene guessed. Lily nodded.  
"Maybe I have been blind this whole time," she murmured.  
"The past is the past, Lils. You can't do anything about that now. Just… keep an open mind or something. Even I can see that James has changed this year. He'll make mistakes, and bad choices, and may even say a thing or two that will really annoy you and make you doubt he ever changed at all. But he has, and he'll prove it to you." Marlene smiled at Lily, who smiled back.  
"You sound like you really know what you're talking about," she said. "Are you sure you're not psychic?"  
Marlene grinned. "Well, there is a history of Seers in my family, you know," she teased. Lily shook her head and picked up her quill. "Well, can you predict my result on this paper for me?"  
Looking over at Lily's parchment, Marlene saw Lily hadn't even written four lines. "At the rate you're going? You'll be lucky to get a D."  
Lily winced. "That hurt. Maybe I should ask Remus to help me."  
"If you can find him. Everyone seems to have disappeared today," Marlene said curiously.  
"Everyone meaning the marauders?"  
"And Hestia. Who knows where she's off to these days!"

Lily thought that was a bit suspicious. Usually, Hestia always hung out with Lily and Marlene. "She's been acting kinda strange lately, hasn't she?" Lily asked. She wondered if Marlene knew anything, but Marlene just shrugged. "Do you think that maybe she's hiding something from us?  
"Like what?"  
Lily chewed on her lip. It wasn't like Hestia to hide something, but… "Well, she has been spending a bit of time with James lately…"

Marlene's jaw dropped in shock. "Lily Evans, are you _jealous_?" Lily remained silent. "Oh, for Merlin's sake. Okay. One: Hestia has spoken to James no more than I have this year. Two: You have nothing to be jealous of. Three: James has made it clear to everyone in this entire bloody school that you are the only girl he has ever laid eyes on."  
"But what if…" Lily trailed off, blushing bright red. Marlene waited impatiently for Lily to gather her thoughts. "What if, after all this time, he was only in it for the chase? I mean, we're talking and stuff now… friends, I guess… so what if he's suddenly gotten bored and I'm not good enough anymore?"

"Pull yourself together, Lily!" Marlene was having none of this self-pity. Lily was better than that. "You're over exaggerating everything that's happening right now. It's all in your head. James obviously wants to be with you. Hestia has got something else on her plate that we don't know about, but she'll tell us when she's ready. You are worthy of having a decent boyfriend. Everything will become clear eventually, and you just need to get rid of these jealous tendencies you're having over a boy you've only just begun talking to. There is zero need to be possessive." Marlene had gotten herself riled up now, and was panting a bit. Lily was glaring at Marlene.  
"You know, sometimes you can be a real bitch."  
"And sometimes you can be extremely irrational and pathetic."

Lily clenched her jaw, took some deep breaths, and calmed herself. Marlene was right. Lily was being irrational and pathetic. She didn't know anything yet. There was nothing to worry about.

"I'm sorry for being stupid."  
"Sorry for being a bitch."  
"I know you're only trying to help, so I suppose it's okay."


	10. Chapter 10

"I challenge you to go to Hogsmeade with me on Saturday," James blurted out. Lily paused her Charms work. Did she hear that right?  
"Um. Excuse me?" She tucked her hair behind her ear.  
James, embarrassed and disappointed, said "never mind." What on earth possessed him to say that anyway? Getting a date through a challenge was suddenly the worst idea in the world. Sirius was an idiot and Remus was right, as always.

"Did you just ask me to Hogsmeade?" Lily asked.  
James ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe? I don't know."  
"Well, if you had…" Lily flung her hair over her shoulder, annoyed because it kept going in her face. She was, however, thrilled at the conversation. "I suppose we'll never know, will we?"

She smiled teasingly at James, who looked a bit dumbfounded, and resumed her theory work. James was kicking himself. He should ask her again, shouldn't he? Maybe she really did hear him right and was just testing him! Girls were weird like that, weren't they? James was overthinking this way too much.

In the corner, Sirius was balancing his quill on his nose. Remus was talking to the guy sitting next to him while using extravagant hand motions. Peter, who James struggled to see, was leaning over his textbook with a very confused look on his face.

When James turned to sit forward, he caught the eye of Marlene, who was staring at him. Curious, he stared back. He couldn't be sure if she had heard his failure before or not, but judging by the vigorous nodding she was now doing, she had. _Go! Do it! Now!_

James nodded back firmly.

Right. This was it. No time to back out. He'd done this before, hadn't he? Plenty of times. It was easy.

"Lily?" James' voice cracked. Damn, why was he so anxious? She made a little 'mmm' sound as a reply. "Look at me," he demanded. He wanted to see her eyes when he asked her properly. He wanted to see them shine. It crossed James' mind that she would probably say no, as usual.  
"Please go to Hogsmeade with me?"

Lily smiled. The overwhelming amount of joy James expected to see in her eyes wasn't there, but she was smiling widely at him, and that was good enough. "I would like that," she answered.

James could have whooped in joy and held a celebration party there and then, but cleverly decided otherwise. Instead, he simply grinned back at Lily. "Wonderful," was the only thing he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lily scribbling something on some parchment and passing it to Marlene. He pretended not to notice, but could hear Marlene's giggles. He was insanely curious but refrained from asking her about it. That was her business, and he was happy enough to give her some privacy.

When class ended, James threw Lily a quick smile before rushing off to tell his mates about his success. They were more thrilled than he was.

"Wormtail! You owe me three galleons!" Sirius was yelling happily. He was bounding forwards and backwards, punching the air. Peter looked miserable and sullenly handed over the money.  
"Did you make a bet?" James demanded from Peter, who gulped.  
"It was Sirius' idea," he said, hoping to deflect any anger. James glared at Sirius, who gave a sheepish grin. "Come on, mate. It was just a bit of fun! Besides, it was Peter who bet against your success!" Sirius clapped Peter on the back roughly.  
James turned to Remus. "Tell me you did not take part in this," he begged. Remus shook his head.  
"Of course not. Although I should have, I would have won big money!" Remus grinned at James, who after a moment decided that the bet was all in good fun and it didn't matter because _Lily had agreed to go on a date with him!_

"I have been waiting for this day my entire life," James murmured. Sirius, who was the only one who heard, embraced him in a brotherly hug.  
"Well done, mate."


	11. Chapter 11

"This is ridiculous! I shouldn't be worrying about my bloody clothes!"

Lily was extremely frustrated with both her wardrobe and herself. Hestia and Marlene weren't being very helpful either.

"You look nice whatever you wear, Lily," Hestia had assured her.  
Marlene was in agreement. "You could wear your robes and James would be thrilled."

Looking back at her pitiful array of casual clothes, Lily decided she needed to go shopping soon. Maybe she'd ask her parents for money this Christmas…  
"How about this?" Lily asked for the millionth time. She had in her hands a plain green sweater.  
"Like we said, Lily," Marlene grinned.  
"You'll look great whatever you choose," Hestia finished. Lily groaned, decided it would be good enough, and found some black jeans. Her Gryffindor scarf would not match her outfit so she borrowed Marlene's white one. Quickly brushing her hair, Lily wondered if it was too late to do something special with it.  
"You're meant to be meeting James in the Entrance Hall in ten minutes and you haven't even had breakfast yet, Lily!" Marlene reminded her. Lily panicked.  
"I am so not prepared for this," she cried. "Where is my bloody brain!"

Hestia, expecting this outburst, pulled Lily onto her bed. She wrapped a comforting arm around Lily's shoulder. "Lils. Relax. You can eat at Hogsmeade, okay? Your hair looks beautiful straight – don't think I didn't notice you playing with it!" Lily smiled a bit. "And honestly. If James doesn't like the clothes you wear then he's not bloody well worth it, is he?" She patted Lily's shoulder and pushed her away. "Now go clean your teeth."

Lily was feeling much more comfortable with everything now, but was still anxious. She had promised to meet him in – she checked her watch – seven minutes! And what if everything went badly? What if today turned out to be a giant practical joke and she had fallen for it! What if today went _well? _

"Stop overthinking and get your ass out here!" Marlene yelled. "Four minutes!"

Lily grabbed her wand off her bed, at last minute taking her black coat in case it got cold. "This is a date," Lily finally realised. She screwed up her nose. "I'm going on a _date_ with James _Potter_!"

Rolling their eyes, Hestia and Marlene pushed Lily out of the dormitory. "Have fun!" her friends yelled. Lily was so busy smiling at their wishes that she barrelled into someone at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she huffed, looking up at her obstacle.

It was James, and he was grinning lopsidedly. "Not a bad way to greet someone," he joked. He helped Lily straighten up and politely ignored her extremely red face. "You look lovely," he added when Lily remained silent.  
"Oh, uh, thanks," she murmured. "I thought we were meeting in the Entrance Hall?"  
James shrugged and started leading the way out of the tower, Lily at his side. "I decided I wanted to see you earlier. Besides, you wouldn't have made it on time." He grinned evilly at her. "Leaving the dormitory with only three minutes to meet me! Cutting it a bit thin, don't you think Evans?"  
"It's called being fashionably late, Potter," she defended herself. "Besides, I had to at least try and look presentable."

James dug his hands into the pockets of his blue jeans. Lily hadn't noticed until then, but he was wearing a simple white shirt with a black jacket Lily suspected was made from dragon hide. "You really don't need to try," he mumbled. Lily couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I haven't had breakfast yet and I am starving, so do you want to grab something to eat?"  
"Sure, I'm starved anyway."

Deciding that they could walk to Hogsmeade a bit later than everyone else and miss the carriages, the pair sat at the edge of the Gryffindor table near the doors, helping themselves to a hearty breakfast. Needless to say, people were staring.

"Pass the bacon, would you Lily?"

Lily handed over the heavy plate and James poured at least a quarter of it onto his own plate. Lily, amused, took a few rinds for herself. "Do you want some sausage as well?" she asked rhetorically.  
"Well, since you're offering, I wouldn't mind some!" James grinned at her, but his grin quickly disappeared when he saw Lily's plate. "You're not eating much," he noticed.

Lily was always reminded at meal times of her sister Petunia, who flat out refused to eat anything other than salad in front of men. While Lily believed in eating some greasy food, some of Petunia's habits had gotten to her, so Lily ate less than she would really want.

"You aren't eating so little because of me, are you?" James demanded. Lily shook her head, but he didn't believe her. "You need a good breakfast to start the day. Here, have some sausage. Bacon is good for the soul. Pancakes taste good. Porridge is gross, but you can have some of that if you like."

As he listed each food, he piled a good helping of it onto Lily's plate. James had taken everything within reach and Lily's plate was overflowing. "There," James said at last. "Now eat up, Lily." He dug back into his own food.  
At a loss of what to do, Lily picked through her plate and ate a bit of everything. She hadn't even a tenth of what was on her plate when James had finished his. He looked over at her plate.  
"You gonna eat that?"


	12. Chapter 12

Once James had eaten his full, the two were walking briskly to Hogsmeade. James was keeping a steady pace which Lily struggled to keep up with. James, upon noticing this, politely shortened his stride without comment.

"I was hoping to go to Zonko's," James said nervously. "I mean, I know you hate that sort of stuff and everything so of course you don't have to come –"  
"That'll be fun," Lily interrupted. "I need some new quills though, Scrivenshaft's have got some self-inking ones at the moment."

James decided that he can deal with that, and grinned. Lily was wonderful.

"Zonko's first then, so your quills don't get destroyed."

Lily thought James was joking, but upon entering the shop Lily had a dungbomb thrown into her face and had slipped on some green slime. James was already laughing at her.  
"Stay close to me, Evans. And keep your eye out for traps!"

Doing as she was told, Lily stayed so close to James she was stepping on his heels. Bangs and explosions were heard throughout the store which occasionally caught Lily off-guard and made her jump, resulting in James chuckling. She ventured to touch a few things – a fluffy pink quill that was seemingly harmless, but would later develop a nasty rash on Lily's hand; a black ball that squirted _mimbulus mimbletonia _pus when a certain button was pushed (and of course, Lily pushed it); a golden telescope that had teeth once touched, and many more dangerous inventions that James loved.

He suggested that Lily stopped touching things, when a pair of gloves left bruises on Lily's arms. "Maybe we should leave," Lily countered, and continued to touch things. James, thoroughly amused by Lily's misfortune but upset that it was his fault seeing as he wanted to go to Zonko's, agreed. "I'll just get these and we'll leave, alright?"

In his bag once they'd left the store was a set of dice, an eyepiece, a telescope, an orange box full of powder, a green stone sort of like an emerald, some miniature rat 'lollies', a low supply of basic fireworks and a sock. Lily didn't want to know what they did.

"Off to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop we go!" James said merrily. "I suppose that a self-inking quill would be useful."  
"Well, I'll admit it's nowhere near as interesting as what you bought," Lily conceded, "But your fake enthusiasm is sweet all the same." James was thrilled Lily thought he was sweet, and skipped along beside her. "It's a cute store," he commented. "With a quite inventive roof."

Which was true, as the roof was thatched and had quills of all sizes and colours sticking out of it. They swayed in tune, obviously bewitched to do so, but they looked like they were swaying in a natural breeze.  
"Yes, I always thought so," Lily agreed, and pushed the door open. A little tinkling of a bell sounded throughout the store, and a store clerk appeared from behind a corner.  
"Ah, Miss Evans! Lovely to see you again!" A merry old man with rosy cheeks greeted. He was a bit on the chubby side and was a devout Quidditch supporter, James noticed, judging by the team flags attached to the wall. Lily didn't comment on them.  
"Lovely to see you too, Mr Scrivenshaft," Lily greeted in return. "I was hoping –"  
"The self-inking quills, of course!" Mr Scrivenshaft cried. "Yes, yes, right over there dear. They come in colours!"

James thought that the man was far too excitable over quills but thought it was endearing all the same. He noticed the owner eyeing him carefully, and decided now would be a good time to introduce himself.  
"James Potter, sir," he said, and they shook hands firmly. A wide smile graced Mr Scrivenshaft's face.  
"Ah, yes. The Gryffindor star. Tell me, dear boy, are you going to play professionally?"  
"No sir, quidditch is just a hobby," James smiled. Mr Scrivenshaft looked a bit disappointed but didn't comment.

Lily returned to the desk. "Just these, please," and handed over three quills. With a charming smile, she paid for them and blushed profusely when she was reminded of her special discount. After asking James if he wanted anything, to which he replied in the negative, they left the store together.

"Discount, huh?" James teased. "Lucky you."  
"I shop there often," Lily said. "You really should have gotten some of these, James. There are stainless ones that keep your fingers clean, and they look nice too."  
"Eh, maybe if I'd seen one that caught my eye," James shrugged. Lily pulled out a white quill with a golden base. "This one is stainless," she said. "You can have it if you like."

After close inspection, James decided that it was a nice quill and gratefully took it from Lily. He promised himself he'd get her something nice in return.

"I didn't know you weren't going to play quidditch after school," Lily told James after he had tucked the quill away. Her lack of knowledge was true, but then, she never had taken much interest in James' life before now.  
"Nah, I'm going to become an auror," James said proudly. "Me and Sirius have been talking about it for years."  
"Quidditch would be great though," Lily said earnestly. "My parents always said that if you can do what you love for a career, your life will be a happy one."  
James frowned while he thought. "Yes, but what about all the people whose lives aren't happy? We're at war, and I think I would be happier fighting for other people's freedom and happiness than playing quidditch."  
Lily was impressed with his answer. "People are happy when they watch quidditch though," she argued. "Lots of them get really into it!"  
"I guess there are just more important things, huh?" James grinned. Lily smiled back. "Anyway, today is not the day to discuss dark topics. Do you want to go to Honeydukes?"  
"Ah, well, you know. Nothing else quite like a bit of sweetness to brighten up your day!"

James was in full agreement. "I'll buy you something nice," he promised.  
"I can pay for myself, James," Lily said immediately. James shook his head.  
"Nothing too extravagant. Just something small, as a thank-you for the quill you generously gave me," James said. When Lily still looked unsure, he added "I kind of figured you wouldn't want anything from my Zonko's bag."  
This made Lily laugh. "You're right about that."

Upon seeing Honeydukes and realising that the quaint store was considerably empty, Lily was reminded that it was late afternoon and most students would be preparing to leave. "Let's make this quick so we can catch the carriages back to school," Lily suggested. This made James smirk.  
"Not prepared for the walk back, are we?" he teased. When Lily scowled, he grinned. "Alright, alright. Just a quick browse. What catches your eye?"

Lily turned out to be very picky with her candy. He had pointed out plenty to her already but she declined all of them. James supposed it had something to do with the muggle side of her, but she didn't enjoy the candy that squirmed in your stomach or made you hear a buzz in your ear. James grabbed plenty of those.

"Just how much money do you have, exactly?" Lily asked accidentally. She had been wondering that all day but thought it too rude to ask. James didn't seem to mind, though.  
"More than I know what to do with. How about this, Lily?" James grinned with a pleading look in his eye. "This is perfect."

In his hand was a tiny chocolate kitten that was very much alive and walking around. "James, I can't eat that," Lily said, horrified. James shook his head  
"You're not meant to! It poops out chocolate cherries!" As Lily watched, the kitten squatted, a miniature cherry appeared on James rough palm, and with a huge grin the kitten meowed obviously expecting praise.  
Now disgusted instead of horrified, Lily was speechless. "I don't think that's what I want," she said at last. James put the kitten back on display sadly.  
"Maybe I should get it for Sirius?" he wondered, but decided against it. He realised that Lily had disappeared from his side.

Lily was over in the corner, looking at a dragon on the shelf . It was chocolate covered, with sugar coated wings and chewy liquorice claws. The whole thing was about the size of her forearm. Excited, she picked it up and brought it over to James. "This is way beyond my price range," Lily said excitedly, "and of course you don't have to get it for me, but if you're going to buy me something, this is it!"

The way that Lily was looking at the dragon (which didn't move, mind you, so James still believed the kitten was a better idea) like it was the most special thing in the world. How could James not buy it for her?

With a smile, he asked Lily if she had everything she wanted and proceeded to the counter to pay for everything. Lily was bouncing on her feet happily.  
"There's a surprise in his stomach," the lady behind the counter informed Lily with a smile. This only made Lily happier.

Together they exited the store with their money pouches considerably lighter, but James for one didn't care. He had made Lily happy, they had no arguments, and their date was a success! "Ready to go back to school?" James asked Lily. He thought she looked a bit sad when she nodded, but he was probably just wishfully thinking.

"This dragon is nowhere near equal to that quill," Lily mumbled when they got into the very last carriage. It seemed to have been waiting for them. "I mean, the quill cost me nine sickles. What is that compared to this?" She held up the dragon for inspection.  
"I don't care," James said. "Happiness is priceless."

Lily thought that was a bit sweet. "I wonder what's inside him?" she said to herself, shaking the dragon hoping to hear something move in its stomach. She heard nothing.  
"I hope to be there when you find out," James murmured.  
Lily had heard him. "If you're not, I'll tell you what you missed out on," she teased.

The carriage ride went by quickly, with Lily nibbling on her dragon and James explaining what all his Zonko's products did and how. To his non-surprise, Lily followed the explanation carefully and (to his complete surprise) complimented the magic technique. "I admire their creativity," Lily had admitted. "I just don't like what they're used for. There is so much more potential for them."

Hogwarts loomed ever closer and after a stretch of silence, Lily realised that she had had a good time with James. She didn't feel the need to tell him, though. He would know.

As it was, James was starting to wonder. She had been silent most of the ride back, and he was beginning to wonder if he'd said or done something wrong. He was so sure that today was perfect!  
"So, have you had a good day?" he asked eventually. Lily nodded enthusiastically as the carriage screeched to a halt. Quickly, James jumped off and offered his hand to Lily as she climbed down. She took it briefly. "Have you had a good day?" she asked. James nodded.  
"Good."

As dinner wouldn't be for another hour at least, they decided to head up to Gryffindor tower to put away their things. "I still say this wasn't a fair trade," Lily grumbled. James simply shrugged and led the way through his favourite secret passageways, ignoring Lily's endless questions. _Where did this come from? Who else knows about these? Why are you always late if these are shortcuts? Why are we moving down if the tower is up?_ The trip took half as long as taking the stairs.

"So, we should do this again sometime?" James suggested hopefully, before they reached Fat Lady. Lily clutched her dragon close to her chest. "Yeah, or something else," she agreed. "It doesn't have to be Hogsmeade."

James' heart leapt at how perfect Lily was. He couldn't believe that she had said yes to another date. The first time was a miracle, let alone a second time! This was history!

"That sounds good," James managed to say calmly. He said the password and held the portrait open for her. It was strangely quiet inside the common room, and James found out why when he nearly crashed into Lily.

Everyone was staring at them. Literally everyone in the common room. The portraits as well. When James fixed them each with a glare, whispers erupted behind hands and muffled conversations began. Lily, blushing bright red, hurried into her dormitory.

"What are you all looking at?" James demanded angrily. "Are you that surprised to see the Head Boy and Girl getting along?" When no one responded, but everyone looked sufficiently guilty, James prowled into his own dormitory. His mates were waiting there.

"So the date went well then?" Remus asked casually when James slammed the door shut. James frowned at him. "Actually, yes, but then everyone in the common room was staring at us like a pair of show freaks," James grumbled.  
Sirius started guffawing. "Yeah, I asked them to do that. Told them to expect an argument of the century." He clutched his stomach in laughter.

James was furious. How dare he? He almost ruined the most perfect date of James' life! James flashed across the room and grabbed Sirius by the front of his robes.  
"Never do that again," James snarled, nose to nose with Sirius. When he noticed James was not amused, Sirius looked ashamed of himself.  
"I'm sorry, mate," Sirius said quickly, prying James' hands of his clothes. "I thought it would be funny, that's all."

James huffed, realised he was overreacting, and apologised. "It's just that I had such a nice day with Lily," he sighed. Sirius lounged by his side. "Then to come into the common room and see everyone staring at us like we're freaks…"  
"I'll go fix it," Sirius exclaimed and jumped up. "They'll be sorry they ever listened to me!"

He ran out of the room without another glance.


	13. Chapter 13

"Oi! Everyone!"

Sirius stood on top of a table so everyone could see him. Once he was sure that all eyes were on him, he did not gift the crowd with a charming grin. They shrunk back when they saw how dark Sirius' face was.

"I have to admit I am disappointed in all of you," Sirius began sternly.  
"You told us they'd argue!" A brave fifth year shouted. When people murmured in agreement, Sirius barked at them to shut up. "You're all pathetic," Sirius sneered. "What type of person gets enjoyment out of watching people suffer? As Gryffindors, you should all be ashamed of yourselves. You'll all make good death eaters once you've left school."

With that slap in the face, and a last glare, Sirius jumped off the table and disappeared back to the dormitory.

"The problem is solved!" Sirius declared. James nodded in approval. "So Prongs, you get a kiss out of her yet?" Remus looked disgusted, but James smirked. "Nah. Held her hand though."  
This caused Sirius to giggle uncontrollably. "How cute," he snickered.  
"Held it for about two seconds," James elaborated, just as amused at Sirius as he was at James.

"Leave him alone, Padfoot," Remus said at last. "He had a successful date with the girl of his dreams. Just be happy for him."  
James appreciated his support. "Where's Peter?" he asked. He had just noticed he wasn't in sight.  
"Detention," Sirius shrugged. "Falling behind on his Transfiguration work or something."  
"Oh."

"So come on, Prongs," Remus said, leaning forward eagerly. "We know you want to tell us all about your day. Start from the beginning."

James happily launched into a detailed minute-by-minute recap of his day and couldn't stop smiling the whole time.

In the girls' dormitory, Lily was a bit reluctant to tell Marlene and Hestia about her day. They had been asking her questions, trying to pry out some sort of detail, but Lily was unhelpful.  
"Why don't you want to tell us?" Hestia demanded at last. "We're your best friends!"  
"Yeah, surely it wasn't that bad?" Marlene joked. Lily shrugged.  
"It wasn't bad. It was nice. I guess… me saying it out loud just means that it's real and this is really happening," she mumbled, twisting her fingers.

Marlene didn't quite understand. "Well, that dragon seems pretty real to me, so I think you're a bit delusional, Lily."

This made Lily and Hestia laugh. "Oh Marlene, don't ever change."  
"Hey, can I have some of it? It looks amazingly tempting."  
Lily clutched it to her chest, away from Marlene's greedy hands. "No way! This was a present."  
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Marlene yelled triumphantly. "A present!"  
"From James," Hestia added knowingly. "Did you give him something back?"  
Lily blushed. "Actually, he only gave me this because I gave him a quill. He was determined to buy my something in exchange."  
"Seems a little unfair…" Marlene noted. Lily agreed wholeheartedly.  
"We're going out again sometime so I'll just have to make up for it then," Lily said unthinkingly.  
"ANOTHER date?" Hestia exclaimed. "Blimey, you couldn't have mentioned that before?"

Lily fidgeted. "Well, we agreed it didn't have to be to Hogsmeade, so we might just study or something," she explained. "Nothing too extravagant."  
Marlene started snickering. "Lils, in case you haven't noticed, James is extravagant. He's not going to just study with you."

Lily was left to wonder what that meant until late in the night. As she lay awake in the dark, reliving her day in her mind, she wished she had a pensieve handy as her brain just didn't do the day justice. Lily never thought that she would have so much fun with James and yet, here she was, lying in bed thinking about him, excited for their next date. That was normal, right? Lily had never really felt this way before.

Of course, Lily had been on dates in the past. She was well aware that James had too. But none of them quite compared…

Inside her brain, Lily knew she could think whatever she liked, but somehow it still felt scandalous to admit that she had a wonderful day with James and was starting to see what everybody else saw in the star quidditch player.

He was kind. He was nervous to bring up Zonko's; Lily had noticed that. So Lily cut him some slack and decided that she would do something different. What was the worst that could happen? Zonko's didn't even turn out that bad, though she had avoided the place her entire schooling life in fear of being pranked. Her fear had become a reality, but when James laughed it off, suddenly she felt okay with everything.

He was patient. Though Lily had taken less time in Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop than normal, James let her do her own thing. He didn't comment on the enthusiasm of the shop keeper and didn't continuously tease her about her discount.

He was polite. James hadn't tried anything funny during their day. He had been adamant in giving Lily a gift in return, simply because he wanted to. He had looked after Lily, ensuring that she was warm and comfortable, wasn't too tired from all the walking, and he continuously made sure she wasn't hungry or needed the toilet. He had literally just been her friend, and that was nice. Lily decided James was much nicer when he wasn't continually asking her out.

He was charismatic. The two never lapsed into awkward silence because James always had something to say. He made pleasant conversation with the shop keepers and had a quick chat to those he recognised on the streets. Lily found herself being interested in what James had to say, for he was full of facts (but whether or not they were relevant is up for debate). He stayed away from topics such as pranking and Sirius which Lily appreciated.

Lily just didn't know what it was that made her day so brilliant but decided it was James; she realised he made her happy. With that comforting thought, Lily drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face.


	14. Chapter 14

"Evans!"

Lily paused and waited for James to catch up with her. When he did, she started talking. "I'm glad you're here." At this point, James' heart leapt happily. It slowed down when he realised there was more to that sentence. "We need to go over the prefect patrol timetable again, and we need to begin to organise this years' Halloween decorations for the Great Hall in particular."  
James waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah. Look, when's your next free period?" Lily was confused.  
"I don't have one today."

James frowned. This put a flaw in his plans.

"Well, what do you have after lunch?"  
"Ancient Runes?"  
"Excellent! I'll meet you at lunch then." He turned away from Lily, leaving her to ponder what on earth he was planning. As curious as she was, and as much as she would like to spend time with him (that thought shocked her but she shrugged it off), she had that translation due today after all…

Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of a day, it was lunch, and Lily was too nervous to eat. James had said he'd meet her, but why? What was he planning? Lily couldn't work it out and dammit, why did he want to know what class she had?

"Eaten your full yet?" James asked as he slid into the seat beside her. Lily shook her head, and James sighed. "Are you going to eat anything at all?" Lily shook her head again. "Fine. Follow me then."

James took a moment to grab some rolls before leading the way out of the Great Hall. Lily followed curiously, then started to worry when they exited Hogwarts entirely. "James," she said nervously. "I have to go to class after lunch. So tell me what you've got planned."  
"Ditching is healthy, Lily! One class won't kill you," James encouraged. He took hold of Lily's hand; so she didn't run away, he told himself. He tugged on it. "Come on."  
"I really shouldn't, James," Lily argued, but helplessly followed him. His grip on her hand was too strong for her. "I have my translation due."  
"Hand it in next class."  
"But I'm Head Girl! I can't be seen ditching class!"

James' eyes gleamed. "Ah, well that's the beauty of it, Lily! We won't be seen, where we're going."

Deciding that asking any more questions would be a fruitless effort, Lily allowed herself to be pulled by the hand to her mystery location. James' hand was squeezing hers hard, and his hands felt warm and rough against hers. Lily was running to keep up with James' steady jog, which he obviously found amusing based on his grin. She struggled to not stumble as she ran and was trying to hide how puffed she really was. She needed to do more exercise.

"Are you… taking me… to the… Forbidden… Forest?" Lily puffed. James slowed to a walk, which Lily was grateful for. James let Lily's hand slip from his, though he seemed unwilling – his fingertips lingered on hers before finally letting her hand drop.  
"Not exactly," James said cheerfully. He pointed to a shady looking area within the trees. "There's a… well, it's nicer there than in the actual forest."  
"I certainly hope so!"

James was very much aware of Lily's presence at his right side. How could he not be? She was warm, radiant, and she made James so happy. Her petite frame looked quite fragile as they battled their way through the dense flora; James gladly held back vines, branches and leaves so Lily could pass. Each time she smiled at him and each time his heart skipped a beat.

"Here we are!" James announced, planting himself in front of Lily. She looked up at him curiously.  
"What's so special about this spot?" she asked sarcastically, looking down at her feet as if searching for a magical plant. James chuckled.  
"Behind me is a place that we discovered a few years ago," James explained, automatically using 'we' to refer to his mates. "But before you enter, you have to promise that you won't reveal this secret to anyone else. Promise?"  
Lily pursed her lips. "If I don't promise?" she asked. James frowned.  
"Well… I'll never bring you back here again!" he declared triumphantly.  
"You know I can find my way back here whenever I like with whoever I like?"  
"We could make it an Unbreakable Vow if you like," James threatened. "That way, your promise is binding."  
Lily rolled her eyes. "I don't think that will be necessary. I promise not to show this to anybody else."  
"Or tell anyone about it," James added. Lily repeated obediently. Finally satisfied, James moved out of Lily's view.

"You can go first," he murmured, pushing her forward. Lily saw a blockage a few feet ahead of her and she realised she had to turn left. When she did so, she was amazed.

It wasn't a meadow, exactly. More like a large paddock, with perfectly trimmed grass and tall, square hedges creating an impenetrable barrier. Sun squeezed its light through the dense leaves of the trees above and Lily could hear the hints of a bubbling stream. She guessed that was at the very end of the paddock, where she couldn't see.

"It's beautiful," she whispered. James was standing behind her with his fingertips resting on her wrists. He smiled. "It was a centaur area," James murmured, "but since they've relocated they left it behind."  
"That's a pity," Lily said quietly. "Having such a beautiful place to call home, then having to leave it behind."  
James didn't comment. Lily couldn't get over the sheer beauty of the paddock, and observed it greedily. James nudged her forward. "Go on," he encouraged. "Look around. There's lots of interesting things in here."

Lily looked unsure at first but, with a smile from James, she began inspecting the paddock. A few bushes grew at the entry – Lily identified them as flutterby bushes. To her displeasure, it wasn't flowering. Further on she recognised a dittany plant and some moonstone rocks.  
"James, there are some really rare potion ingredients here!" Lily called, gesturing for James to join her. "Plants as well!"

James made his way over to her and squatted to get a better look at what she was touching. "This is a vine of Devil's Snare," Lily said. "It's still only growing so it's not strong enough to kill you yet. These pebbles, I've never even seen before." The pebbles were deep purple with fluorescent green stripes. James recognised them.  
"Centaurs use them to help determine the future," James said. He took one in his palm and starting throwing it in the air. "Supposedly, they change colour when danger is coming."

Lily eyed the pebble, almost expecting it to change colour then and there.

"Though, like most divination techniques, it's a shady type of knowledge that can't really be identified." He let the pebble clatter to the ground. "I mean, danger is kind of a broad term, don't you think? And how far away is 'coming' anyway? A day? A week? A year?" James let out a derisive snort as he got to his feet.

"Come on, there are some fairies over by the stream and merpeople in the water. Much more interesting than rocks."

An hour or so later, Lily had investigated the paddock until her curiosity was satisfied, and had gone into countless explanations of the things she saw which James found endearing. Now, they were leaning against the hedge barrier next to the stream, which Lily was dangling the tips of her fingers in. "This is unbelievable," Lily said to James. "How can you keep this a secret?"

James watched the water flow. "I suppose that I didn't want anyone to ruin the beauty of it."  
"You didn't think I would?" Lily asked gently. It was obvious that he didn't, seeing as he invited her there, but she wanted to know what he would say anyway.  
"Nah," he grinned. "I mean, I know you're clumsy and everything –" Here, Lily gasped and pushed him as hard as she could. James laughed and nudged her back. "You fit in here," he finished.  
"What do you mean?" Lily asked. "Are you saying I fit in here, in the middle of nowhere?" She was only teasing and James knew it.  
"I meant that you're beautiful enough to suit this area."

Lily didn't know how to respond to that, as that was the first real compliment she had received from James in a long time. "Well, if you have to be beautiful to gain entry here, you better leave now," Lily teased. James looked shocked and put a hand dramatically against his heart.  
"And here I thought I was good looking! Ah, well. Sirius was the one wanting to be a model, I suppose."

Lily giggled. "We have to head back soon," she sighed. Lying back on the grass, she could see the sunlight fading through the tree leaves. James lay by her side.  
"Not really. We could stay here forever and no one would ever find us," he said. Lily thought it was a tempting idea, as the paddock was far too magical to just leave behind, but her stomach was demanding food and her bladder needed to relieve itself.  
"Thank you for showing me this, James," Lily whispered.  
"You're welcome," he whispered back.

Together they lay on the grass until the sky went dark. Wordlessly, the two got up in sync and left the paddock. Lily looked back just as she was turning the corner to see little flickers of light, which she knew to be fireflies. She wished she could stay and watch them fly, but sadly she had to return to reality and her friends…

"Oh shit," Lily breathed. "James, what on earth am I going to say to Hestia and Marlene?"  
"Nothing?" James suggested. "Why do you have to say anything?"  
"Because Hestia is going to be wondering why I didn't show up to Ancient Runes and that means endless questions about where I've been and what I've been doing and I promised you I wouldn't say anything about the paddock so I'm going to be left with nothing!" Lily ranted.

James chuckled. "Just say we went on a date," he said kindly. Lily looked up at him with wide green eyes. "Was this a date?" she asked. James ran a hand through his hair.  
"Uh, well, it doesn't have to be, of course, but that was my intention," he muttered. He avoided eye contact with Lily, under the pretence of navigating their way back to the castle. Lily tugged on his hand to get his attention and he reluctantly glanced at her.

She was smiling.

"This was a lovely date, James," she said happily. "Although, next time, you should probably ask me if I wanted to go rather than forcing me with no explanation."  
James gave her a lopsided grin. "But if I gave you a choice, you would have gone to class! What would I have done then?"  
"I suppose you're right," Lily admitted. "I would have gone to class. But we could have done this on a weekend or another day!"  
"I wanted to do it today," James said defensively.  
"I'm glad you did. I truly had a wonderful time," Lily said. They exited the forest and saw the castle looming ahead, light shining through the hundreds of windows. It reminded Lily of a Christmas tree. "We really must start those Halloween decorations soon," she added. James smiled and slipped his hand into Lily's. Her heart beat faster but she didn't pull away.  
"Tomorrow. I promise."


	15. Chapter 15

"Where have you been?" Hestia hissed when Lily slid into the seat next to her at dinner. Lily shrugged. "Nowhere."  
"I've been looking for you _everywhere! _Why didn't you come to Runes? Are you feeling okay?"  
Lily saw the opportunity and took it. "Actually, I felt a little ill during lunch so I went to the hospital wing. I must have eaten something strange."  
Hestia frowned. "I saw you leaving with James," she accused.  
"Uh, well, he wanted to go over our Halloween decoration plans," Lily invented. Hestia's curiosity visibly peaked. "And no, Hest, I can't tell you anything about it. None of it is confirmed, anyway."  
Hestia slumped. "What kind of friend am I," she mumbled, "If you can't even organise a party with me?"  
Lily giggled at her friend and began helping herself to dinner. Yorkshire pudding was calling Lily's name. "Where's Marlene?" Lily asked. Hestia shrugged.  
"I have no idea. I've been alone since lunch. Everyone just disappeared." She nibbled on some garlic bread. "She did receive a strange owl this morning, though."

Lily wondered what that could mean but decided that it could wait until she saw Marlene. "She has to come back eventually, right?"  
Hestia nodded her agreement. "You have grass in your hair, by the way."  
Lily pretended to be shocked and disgusted. "What the hell? Where did that come from?" She pulled her fingers through her hair, hoping to get the grass out. Hestia laughed at her failure.  
"Stop, you're making it worse." She leaned over to help.  
"Do you think Marlene would be in the common room by now?" Lily asked. Hestia shrugged.  
"I checked before dinner and she wasn't there. Let me have some dessert and we'll go up."

Hestia gave herself a small helping of jelly and ice-cream which she gulped down. Lily gazed around the Hall while she waited.  
Severus was sitting amidst his Death Eater friends with his nose in a book. He was frowning and had wrinkles on his forehead. Lily looked away sadly. Despite of all the bad things Severus was interested in, she had lost her first magical friend. That didn't sit well in her heart.  
"Let's go," Hestia said at last.

Marlene wasn't in the common room, but Lily found her crying on her bed in the dormitory. Figuring that Hestia would come in and investigate when Lily didn't return, she sat beside Marlene and started stroking her hair.

"What's wrong, Marlene?' Lily asked. She was so worried about her best friend; Marlene rarely cried. Marlene tried to cease her sobbing.  
"It's… stupid," she got out. Lily handed her a fresh tissue and Marlene gratefully blew her nose. "I just... I got an owl this morning from my parents."  
"What did it say?"  
"They were telling me that Pippy had died yesterday!" Marlene erupted into tears again. Lily knew that Pippy was Marlene's horse, and was the first pet she had ever received. Marlene had had Pippy since she was four. Lily would be distraught if she lost her lifelong pet too.

At this point, Hestia entered the dormitory, saw Lily sitting next to Marlene helplessly, and rushed to her side. "Marlene," she cooed. "Everything will be alright."  
She looked to Lily for an explanation so Lily mouthed 'Pippy' and hoped Hestia would understand. By the looks of it, she did. "We all have to lose someone eventually."  
"I know," Marlene sniffed. "But it's so hard!"  
Hestia and Lily hugged Marlene simultaneously. There was nothing they could do except offer their condolences. After a few more minutes, Marlene decided to go down to the hospital wing.  
"A sleeping draft will do me good," she told them. "An easy sleep or something."

Lily offered to accompany Marlene to the hospital wing, who accepted, and the two left Hestia in the dormitory. She allowed herself a brief moment to grieve Pippy, then focused on what she could do. "The Christmas Ball needs a lot of work," she said to herself. "I could do some work on that."

So she did.

Hestia grabbed some spare parchment and borrowed one of Lily's muggle pencils. She would write a list and draw some sketches of what she thought it would look like. Hestia was quite the drawer.

She made her way downstairs to find the common room practically empty. Dinner would be finishing soon, so Hestia took the time to appreciate the silence. She sat herself in front of the fire, resting the parchment on the low table there. She began drawing.

Eventually, she finished a sketch of the tables and chairs. She added floating lights and the elves in Christmas wear, although she knew they would be extremely reluctant to wear clothes. Perhaps Dumbledore could persuade them to dress for the occasion. The roof would drip snow and snowmen would guard the doors. Maybe Dumbledore could organise a band to come play? The gramophone was nice, but it was nothing compared to live music…

Lily returned from the Hospital wing, but Hestia didn't realise. Lucky for her, the list labelled clearly as _The Christmas Ball _was hidden from sight. Her drawing, however, was not. She only realised Lily was standing over her shoulder when it was too late.

"What are you drawing?" Lily asked. Hestia jumped and covered the drawing with her hands.  
"Nothing!"  
"Liar! Tell me!" Lily sat beside her and waited for an explanation. Hestia thought up a lie quick.  
"It might be a draft of what I want my wedding to look like," Hestia mumbled. Lily started giggling.  
"Hest, I never picked you to be dreaming about something so far away! You hardly seem the type!"  
"Looks can be deceiving," Hestia said defensively. "Besides, it never hurts to be prepared."  
Lily looked doubtful. "You're going to have your wedding in the Great Hall?" she questioned. "At Christmas?"

Hestia huffed. "Well, Lily, seeing as I haven't thought that far ahead, I figured the Great Hall would be a nice basis for my drawing. And at Christmas? Of course. Best time of the year!"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Hestia. Though, you might want to find a husband first," she teased. Hestia frowned. "Well not all of us have had boys pining after us since fifth year," she grumbled.  
"I'm not marrying James, if that's what you're getting at," Lily said immediately. This made Hestia laugh.  
"If you say so."  
"I'm not!"

Hestia appraised Lily carefully. "I've seen the way you look at him, Lily. Especially lately. You feel something for him, and Merlin knows he's completely in love with you. I think that he'll just keep asking you to marry him, even if you say no. Just like he used to keep asking you out every day!" This struck a memory in Hestia's brain. "Wait a minute, has he stopped asking you because you said yes and you never told anyone?"

Lily's jaw dropped. "What? No! I don't know why he stopped asking."

Hestia decided she was telling the truth. "Sorry. I had to check. It was a very convincing rumour." Lily couldn't care less that there were rumours flying about her and James. She cared that Hestia thought she wouldn't tell! "I would tell you if that happened," Lily promised. Hestia nodded and the portrait opened, letting in people from younger years.

"I suppose that dinner is over. Do you want to do some homework?"  
"Of course not," Lily said with a smile. "But it's necessary."

The two decided to tackle the Potions foot-long essay that was due on Veritaserum. Slughorn had assured his students that they wouldn't need to go to the Library for this essay, but Lily was starting to doubt her professor.  
"I wish I could ask Severus about this," Lily grumbled. Looking over at Hestia's paper, Lily noticed she was using her largest handwriting. Cheater.  
"You've been thinking about him a lot lately, haven't you?" Hestia asked. Lily nodded. "Do you think it's because of James?"  
Lily hadn't really thought about the reasons. "I guess it's because our last year at Hogwarts and I may never see him again. And with what he said in Potions the other day about James…" Lily had to smile at Marlene attacking him afterwards, but it disappeared quickly. "I just wish he was as nice as he was when he first met."

Hestia chewed on her quill in thought. "Maybe he still is," Hestia suggested, "but because you've been subjected to nicer, he seems moodier in comparison."  
Lily shrugged. "It doesn't matter. He's chosen his path, and I've chosen mine." The phrase _one side has got to come out on top _ran through her mind. It was what she considered to be war propaganda. "I think we need to go to the library for this one," Lily said. Curfew was in an hour though, so she decided it could wait. She moved on to Defence Against The Dark Arts work whilst Hestia chose Care of Magical Creatures.

Lily would have loved to do that subject, for she did have a soft spot for animals, but she figured it just wasn't a priority with a war raging. She could always read up on the subject later in life anyway.

The dreaded though ran through her mind. What if she didn't have a 'later in life'? She was only too aware of the fact that the war was being fought over people like her. But Lily was determined to have a later in life. She would join the ministry's fighting forces and she would be on the front line! Lily was a fighter. She would not back down and let people fight for her. They would win the war, the good people. One side had to come out on top, and she would make sure it was hers.

Hestia could see that Lily was in deep thought but couldn't help be amused by her facial expressions. They went from concentration, to sadness, to fierceness, to anger, to determination. Hestia discovered long ago that Lily was the type of girl who would have a conversation with herself and outwardly show her emotions without realising it.

She also knew that Lily would get quite angry and embarrassed if anyone ever commented on it, so Hestia turned her head and pretended not to notice her strange friend.


	16. Chapter 16

Sirius was _so _not in the mood to work in Charms that day. He'd already tricked the (unfortunate) person next to him into eating a vomit flavoured Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean, and let off some small fireworks from Zonko's. Needless to say, Professor Flitwick wasn't very impressed with Sirius.

But Sirius was _bored _and he had nothing to do! There was no one worth talking to within distance and there were no Slytherins in the class to pick on! He decided that Prongs would entertain him. Looking over, he saw James chatting to Lily; Sirius decided that could easily be interrupted so he got up and sauntered over to his best mate.

"What's up, Prongs?" Sirius greeted. He nodded to Lily, who said a simple "Hi" in return. James had an amused smile on his face. "Bored already, Padfoot?"  
"Yep!" Sirius didn't like standing when everyone else was sitting, so he looked to his left. Marlene McKinnon was sitting there, watching him. She could guess what was about to happen. "Scoot over, McKinnon. Give a man some room."

Marlene remembered Flitwick's warning at the beginning of the school year about sitting in the wrong seats, whereas Sirius obviously didn't. She stood and offered Sirius her chair with a smirk. "Well, that's very kind of you," Sirius said snootily. Marlene didn't know what would happen, but she knew she wanted to be far away from Sirius when it did. She went and stood behind James, who was also grinning widely, just as Sirius sat.

A loud buzzer started ringing throughout the class. It reminded Lily of the buzzer muggles used at basketball tournaments. Sirius looked up in surprise, just as a cauldron of white slime emptied itself over his head. He tried to jump off his seat, but found he was now glued to it. Glitter was then dumped over that, causing Sirius to shout.  
"Do you know how hard this is to get off your body?" he yelled in outrage. "This will be in my hair for weeks!"  
"We know," Marlene sniggered. "The question is, how do _you _know?"  
Sirius, unperturbed by Marlene's suggestion, yelled "A real man plays with glitter! So what?"

The class started laughing at Sirius, and he grinned, thinking that what he said was funny. He soon realised that they weren't laughing at what he said, rather, at him as a whole.  
"Prongs, what are they laughing at?" Sirius found he could now get off the chair and stood. He patted himself down quickly, making sure all his essential body parts were there. He didn't realise a couple had been added.

Remus appeared at Sirius' side with Peter. "Nice tail, Padfoot," Remus smirked.  
"I prefer your dog one," Peter added.  
"I dunno," James sniggered. "This one's a nice change."

Sirius, horrified, patted his back and backside until he found the accusing tail. It was thick and fluffy, and he turned in circles trying to find it. This caused more laughter.

Finally realising what he was doing, Sirius stopped spinning. He looked at Lily sternly. "Be honest, Evans," he said. "Do I have ears?"  
"Two sets," Lily giggled. Sirius reached up to the top of his head to find a pair of new, long, floppy ears.

"What am I?" he cried out in terror.

"Mister Black!" Professor Flitwick had finally decided it was time to intervene. "Do you not remember my warning at the beginning of term?"  
"No," Sirius grumbled.  
Flitwick clucked his tongue. "You will do well to remember it in the future. Would you like to see your punishment?" He waved his wand and conjured a full-body mirror that was twice the size of him and handed it to Peter, who held it in front of Sirius.

"You turned me into a bloody bunny rabbit?" Sirius shouted. His ears stood erect, but Sirius couldn't stop pulling them down around his face in shame. "I eat these for dinner!"  
The marauders couldn't stop laughing as they remembered that Sirius liked to chase hares and rabbits for entertainment on the full moon.  
"Well now you have experience in being the victim," Professor Flitwick said sternly. "Think twice before breaking my rules again."  
He waved his wand and Sirius was returned to his normal state. The class sighed in disappointment.  
"This is all your fault, McKinnon!" Sirius growled when the professor was out of earshot. "You knew this would happen!"  
Marlene returned to her seat, pleased that nothing happened to her. "Of course I didn't," she said. Then she grinned. "You looked fabulous though."  
"A real model," Remus added.

James was trying to return to a state of composure, for his best mates' sake. "At least he didn't leave you like that all day," he said comfortingly. Lily, beside him, had her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles. At Flitwick's command, everyone returned to their seats and work.

Sirius frowned. That wasn't the type of entertainment he had in mind when he went to visit Prongs! "I hate bunnies."

Once the class returned to order, the noise level back to normal and Sirius was out of sight, Lily had the urge to question James.

"So, Sirius has a dog tail, huh?" Lily asked casually. She hadn't missed Peter's passing remark.  
James winced. "Do I have to answer that?"  
"No," Lily said, twisting her self-inking quill between her fingers. "But I am curious."  
"I'll tell you another time," James promised. Lily nodded.

"Well, alright. So for Halloween, which is now two and a half weeks away," Lily reminded James, "What do you think of floating pumpkins?"  
"That's a good idea," James agreed. "We could dress the statues up as well, and I'm sure I could convince Peeves to be a nuisance."  
"More of a nuisance than usual," Lily teased. "Maybe he could throw lollies at the first years?"  
"Or dungbombs," James corrected. "He's got to get some sort of enjoyment out of it!"  
Lily smiled but felt bad for the first years. "Are you planning some sort of prank for Halloween?" she asked. "You've been very quiet this year."  
"We've only been back a month," James said. "Besides, it's out NEWT year. We need to concentrate."

Lily doubted that was the reason but let it slide.

"I'm sure Sirius could cook something up. Maybe we could put a troll in the dungeon or something. He said he had seventy-two prank ideas for this year."  
Lily gasped. "Seventy-two?"  
James smirked at her reaction. "Do you prefer our quietness now?" Lily nodded. "That's what I thought."  
They got back on track. "The elves look after the food," Lily said and checked off something on her list. "Maybe we could get Hagrid to carve some pumpkins for the Entrance Hall?"  
"He's grown some coloured ones this year," James said unnecessarily.  
Lily was writing notes on her list. "Why don't you ask Sirius what he's got in mind?" Lily suggested. "Try to coordinate it with our other ideas."

Lily didn't see anything wrong with using what she had at her disposal. The marauders were good at pranking and it would offer quite a bit of entertainment for the students.

James was grinning. He never thought he'd see the day when Lily was encouraging him to prank. "Oi, Padfoot!" James yelled. Sirius turned his head reluctantly (he was still a bit upset over the bunny incident). James waved him over, but he shook his head firmly. "No way, Prongs!" Sirius called. "You can come to me!"

With a sigh, he left Lily at the table and went over to Sirius. "Plans for Halloween?" James asked.  
Sirius sulked. "You said no pranks."  
"I said one per month," James corrected. "Anyway, this is a perfect opportunity. Lily actually wants us to prank!"  
"Lily wants us to, so that makes it okay? Suddenly we can do what we've always done because we have her permission?"

James noticed that Sirius was very upset. "What's wrong, mate?" he asked. He leaned on Sirius' desk.  
"I was humiliated, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed. "My pride is ruined!"  
James rolled his eyes. "You humiliate yourself on a daily basis."  
"True." Sirius nodded his head and just like that, he was over it. "Well, I was thinking of putting something really dangerous in the Slytherin common room, like a dragon or something." Sirius checked off his fingers. "I was gonna charm the brooms to fly backwards for a day. Also, how about letting our furry little problem out one night? Let it roam about the castle?"

James was shocked. "Sirius. Funny, not deadly. Merlin."  
"Well there goes about ten of my ideas," Sirius grumbled.  
"Think of pumpkins," James suggested, "and dressed-up statues."

Sirius thought for about five seconds. "We could have a pumpkin parade," he suggested. James leant on the desk on his elbows, sticking out his ass. "Pumpkins on the head of the statues and bewitch them to walk about or something?"

James grinned. He could always rely on Sirius. "That's excellent. Keep thinking, write them down or something. Lily will want to know." Pleased with his success, he returned to his desk to inform Lily of the plans.

"That's good," Lily agreed after James had told her. Then she started giggling uncontrollably.  
"What?" James asked with a smile. "What have you thought of?"  
"Well," Lily began, trying to hold back her grin, "do you think it would be possible to transfigure the owl's heads so they're pumpkin shaped?"  
"No," James said. Lily looked disappointed. "But we could make the owl post actual pumpkins until they fall on the tables?"

Lily was pleased with that idea and wrote it down. "This is going to be a really good Halloween," she said happily.


	17. Chapter 17

Lily and James were in an empty classroom sorting out the new prefect patrol timetable. James had suggested that they re-use the original one, but Lily was adamant on making a new one. After some negotiation, they decided to use the original one as a base and just change a few shifts.

"I can't patrol Thursday," James said, pointing to the first Thursday.  
"Why not?" Lily scowled. He had to be so picky with his shifts! She waved her wand and replaced James' name with Remus' name.  
"Neither can Remus," James added. Lily realised it was the full moon.  
"What does the full moon have to do with you?" Lily asked. James shrugged.  
"I have to comfort him for moral support!"  
Lily frowned and paused in her work. "Is Sirius a werewolf?" she asked. James looked confused.  
"What? No."  
She looked down at the timetable. "Oh, I was just thinking… never mind." She continued tapping the timetable. James took hold of her wand.  
"Tell me," he demanded.  
"Just of what Peter said about a dog's tail," she mumbled. "Never mind, it was a stupid guess."  
James chuckled. "Yep. Not even close."  
"But he is some sort of dog then?" Lily pressed. James shrugged.  
"Sure, I guess so."

Lily chewed her lip. It wasn't her business at all, but she was so curious, and James better have a bloody good reason why he couldn't do the shifts allocated to him.

"You promised you'd tell me," Lily said petulantly. James sighed.  
"I know. Let's finish this first."

They returned to the timetable and finished it after Lily was pleased with the 'random allocation' of shifts.  
"There's something wrong with it," James observed.  
"I know," Lily agreed. "But I don't know what."  
James looked closely at the timetable. There was something off about the colours… or the names…  
"There are no Hufflepuffs," James said at last. Of course! It was so obvious!  
"Seriously?" Lily snatched the timetable back and quickly looked at it. She sighed. "How could I have forgotten them?" She took out her wand and began changing the names. "This ruins everything!"

James thought it would be best to let Lily fix it by herself. He satisfied his boredom by watching Lily's hair shine in the candlelight, how her slender fingers curved around her wand. She truly was beautiful to James.

"How's this?" James jerked out of his stupor and took the timetable Lily was holding out to him. He looked over it carefully, making sure there was an even spread of houses patrolling and age groups. It was perfect; nothing less than James expected from Lily.

"It's good," he said simply. Lily nodded and put it into her bag to distribute at the next meeting.  
"So." Lily put her elbows on the table and rested her face in her hands. "Tell me your secret."  
James copied her pose. "Who said it was a secret?"  
"If it wasn't a secret, you would have told me by now," Lily pointed out. James conceded.  
"Alright, so maybe it is a secret. If I tell you, you have to promise you won't tell anyone," he warned.  
"So many secrets with you!" Lily shook her hair back. "It makes me wonder what else you're hiding."  
James smirked. "The best secrets are kept. Promise me you won't tell anyone."  
"I promise."  
"Shake on it."

They both shook hands firmly, Lily's hand being lost in James' big hands, James' hand warming at Lily's touch. When they returned to their original poses, neither had realised they had inched forward.

"So… if Moony is a werewolf, and Padfoot is a dog," James hinted, "Can you guess what Prongs is?"  
Lily shook her head. "I suck at riddles, James," Lily admitted. "You're better off just telling me." James was agitated that Lily wouldn't take part in his game. He ditched all theatrics.  
"Animagi," he said bluntly. Lily looked amused.  
"Do you really expect me to believe that Peter became an animagus?" she asked. "Oh, pretend I never said that, that was so rude!"  
James couldn't help but laugh. "We had to help him out in some areas."  
"That is very impressive magic though," Lily said. "And all of this, just for Remus?"  
"We didn't want him to suffer alone," James murmured. He drew imaginary patterns on the desk with his finger for a minute. When he made eye contact with Lily, she looked awed.  
"Your friendship is certainly something to be jealous about."

James flushed at the praise. "Maybe. Well, now you know everything, please don't turn us into the Ministry."  
"You mean you're not registered?" Lily shook her head. "Of course you're not!"  
"It might be a good secret weapon," James argued. "Undercover and all that."

Lily began twirling a strand of her hair around her fingers. "That would be a good idea, having more animagi in the field," Lily thought aloud, "if it weren't for the fact that going unregistered is illegal. So what are you?"  
"A stag. Hence the whole Prongs thing," James teased. Lily smiled.  
"Of course." She stood and gathered her things, forcing them into her bag. She waited for James to join her; he took his sweet time considering he didn't bring anything. He seemed deep in thought.

"Do you want to go to the paddock with me?" James asked quietly.

Oh, did she ever. Lily hadn't been able to get the beauty out of her mind. It wasn't easily forgotten. She desperately wanted to return.

"Not tonight," Lily said regretfully. James looked dejected so Lily slipped her hand into his and squeezed. "How about tomorrow?"  
James brightened up immediately. "Alright. After dinner then?" Lily nodded, wanting to see the place at night. Perhaps the fireflies would be there.

James didn't let Lily pull her hand out of his until they reached the stairs. While this disappointed Lily, should would never admit it, and was slightly relieved when James wandered off around the castle in search for his mates.

_"They won't be in the common room," _he had said. "_It's too boring without me there."_

So Lily had returned by herself, happy that things were looking up. She climbed through the portrait hole, looking for her friends. They were sitting at a table in the corner with a spare seat for Lily. She bee-lined for them.

"Guess what, girls?" Lily began bravely. She had decided that, since James didn't say she couldn't tell anyone, she would tell her best friends that they were going on a date.  
Marlene and Hestia's attention was squarely on Lily. They looked… expectant. Lily plonked her things on her chair before sitting beside them. "I have a date."

They broke out in grins. "I knew it!" Marlene squealed.  
"It's about time," Hestia added. Lily smiled. "So, give us details! Was it romantic?"

Lily found herself actually wanting to tell her best friends everything. "It wasn't romantic," she said honestly. "We just finished doing the patrol timetable and he asked."  
"How did he ask?" Marlene wondered. Lily stopped herself from saying _He asked me back to the paddock. _She had almost forgotten they didn't know.  
"He just asked me if I wanted to go on a date with him," Lily shrugged.  
"Seems a bit plain for James," Hestia observed. Lily nodded in agreement but didn't comment. "So, when and where are you going?"  
"Tomorrow evening, but I don't know where," Lily smiled.

Marlene smirked. "Evening, huh? Make sure you actually come back to the dormitory," she said. Trying to hold her snickers under her breath, but failing, she let out an ugly snort.  
"What are you talking about?" Lily asked. Marlene composed herself.  
"All the naughty stuff happens at night," she said seriously. Hestia rolled her eyes.  
"They aren't going to have sex, Marlene!"

Lily blushed immediately. "Don't be so crude, Marlene," she frowned. Marlene shrugged in a _can you blame me _fashion. It's worth noting at this point that Marlene the only non-virgin between the three of them, though she had always refused to tell who she lost it to.

At that moment, James and his crew walked in. Sirius was laughing loudly at something, whacking Peter on the back roughly, and Remus was talking to James happily. James was nodding along but, upon seeing Lily in the corner, waved him off. He headed towards Lily, which made Hestia and Marlene giggle, but Lily had butterflies in her stomach. She prayed her friends would be on their best behaviour.

"Hello James," they chorused. Lily sunk in her seat. She could see the glints in their eyes. James was unaware, however, only looking at Lily. He grinned at her.  
"I hear it's going to be cold tomorrow," he said conversationally.  
"Best stay inside then," Hestia said with a smirk. "Not exactly good date weather." She then pretended to look shocked, putting a hand over her mouth. "Oh, did I say _date? _I meant to say _day!_"  
Marlene looked solemn. "A common mistake," she added comfortingly.

Lily felt very embarrassed and glimpsed at James' face to see how he was handling her friends' mocking. To her surprise (though she really shouldn't have been surprised, because James was always mocking and being mocked) he was grinning at them.

"I think that cold weather is the best type of weather," he disagreed. "Cold weather means cuddling for warmth." This made Hestia and Marlene start giggling. James turned to Lily. "Dress warm tomorrow night. Or don't. You know, suit yourself." He winked and then sauntered off to his friends.

"Looking a bit red there Lily," Marlene snickered. "Feeling alright?  
Lily sunk further into her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "Why do you have to embarrass me so?" she asked rhetorically. She then pointed an accusing finger at Hestia. "And you! I'd expect this from Marlene, but you surprised me!"  
Hestia and Marlene laughed loudly. "It was too good of an opportunity to pass up," Hestia managed to get out. "I'm full of surprises."  
"Aren't we all," Lily muttered.


	18. Chapter 18

"James says to hurry up," Hestia called from outside the dormitory door. Lily had asked her and Marlene to keep a look out for James while she got ready. "He also says…" she trailed off and shouts were heard. "Never mind."

Lily could only assume Sirius was downstairs as well saying crude things. She took one last look in the mirror, decided that her jeans looked nice with her white sweater, grabbed her bag and left the dormitory. Hestia handed Lily her school cloak. "Have fun!" she said teasingly.  
"Stay safe!" Marlene added with a glint in her eye. Hestia hit her on the arm. Lily rolled her eyes at her two friends and descended down the stairs. James was waiting at the bottom of them for her, dressed in a simple button down shirt and jeans. Lily didn't know he owned any. She supposed she should have known.

When she flounced off the last step, James was grinning at her. "You look…" he was lost for words.  
"So do you," Lily agreed shyly. She looked down at her feet, letting her hair fall into her eyes. James, ever the gentleman, used his right hand to tuck it behind her ear.

_"Just kiss her already!" _Lily heard Marlene yell out from the top of the stairs. She then heard some scuffling and a door closing. James laughed.

"Come on. Time sensitive schedule, you know," he teased. Lily smiled and together they exited the common room. Out of the corner of his eye, he was judging her outfit. "I see you dressed warm," he observed. He was a little disappointed, but he didn't want Lily to be cold.  
"You don't exactly seem dressed for the weather either," Lily replied. James shrugged.  
"Fashion is pain, Sirius said to me once. Besides," he waved his wand in front of Lily's face. "I'm a wizard. I can conjure something later."

Lily kept forgetting that she could easily cast a warming spell on her clothes and other similar spells, but told herself she preferred the comfort of heaving clothing. It was the muggle side of her.

"What's in the bag?" Lily adjusted her small bag on her shoulder self-consciously.  
"Well, seeing as we're skipping dinner," Lily began, but James interrupted.  
"Who says we're skipping dinner?"

Lily frowned. "Well I didn't know we weren't! So I grabbed something to eat and put it in here for later!" James gestured for her to hand over the bag but Lily clung tight to it.  
"You can't fit anything worth eating in that," James said rationally. At that exact moment, they were passing the Great Hall. Lily could smell the inviting aroma of meat, gravy, potato and so much more. Her stomach growled in anticipation loudly, which James heard. He started chuckling.

"Don't worry," he assured Lily. "I've organised some food out at the paddock."

Lily smiled at his thoughtfulness. "You seem very prepared."  
"I am. Got entertainment and everything!"  
"Seriously?" Lily asked. James smirked.  
"Well, entertainment of some sort. I hope you like it." James began to look nervous. "I mean, it was Remus' idea and I thought it was quite brilliant so…"  
Lily hushed him. "I'm sure I'll love it no matter what." This made James grin and nod to himself.

They were now in the entrance hall. "Brace yourself," James joked. He held the doors open for Lily and she bravely went into the cold. It wasn't as cold as she thought it would be, but the chill was noticeable. James looked unfazed.

There was only a light breeze and it was flicking Lily's hair into her eyes. Annoyed, she tied it back into a simple pony tail. Raising her arms lifted her sweater to reveal her stomach which made Lily cold. She tugged it down quickly.

"You must be so cold," Lily said to James sympathetically. James had the sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows, leaving his toned forearms bare. He even had undone one of the buttons, revealing just a sliver of his chest. His hair was swaying occasionally in the breeze.  
"Only a little," James said easily. "It's alright. We're nearly there anyway, then I'll be warm."  
Lily looked around her and noticed that they were indeed on the edge of the forest. Had she been silent the entire walk here? Did James think she was being rude? Come to think of it, James wasn't exactly chatty tonight either.

"What's got you so quiet?" Lily asked. James looked down at Lily briefly before leading the way into the forest. The fading sunlight easily lit the way.  
"I'm not quiet, you are," James retorted. He held a tree branch out of the way for Lily to pass unharmed. "You know your sweater is just going to get dirty, right?"  
Lily shrugged. "I'm a witch. I'm sure I can clean it." When James didn't smile, Lily was concerned. "Are you nervous?" she asked. James flushed.  
"Maybe just a little," he admitted. He glared at Lily. "It's your fault!"  
Lily was offended. "Excuse me? How is it _my _fault?"  
"Because you make me nervous! You're too…" James clamped his mouth shut and strode forward. Lily rushed to stand in front of him, placing her hands on her hips. "Too what?" she demanded.  
"Too pretty," James grumbled.

Lily, shocked and pleased, continued walking with a small smile on her face. From behind her, she could hear James' light footsteps following.

"You weren't nervous last time we came out here," Lily said conversationally.  
"That was different," James said immediately. "That was a spontaneous decision and I never actually expected you to go along with it. I was more surprised than anything."  
"But now?" Lily urged. James ran a hand through his hair.  
"Now, it's official, and everyone knows we're on a date, and there's a lot of pressure to make it better than the last time," James huffed. Lily's heart jumped and she slipped her hand into his. James smiled down at her.  
"We could be studying and I would have a great time," Lily said honestly. "It's not what you do, James, it's the company you do it with. I have no expectations with you."

James was comforted by Lily's honesty and grinned at last. "Well, I look forward to surprising you then."

Once they understood how the other was feeling, the atmosphere was much more cheerful and James returned to his happy, talkative self. They reached their paddock, all smiles, with James biting his lip. "I really hope you're hungry," he said.

Boy, was she ever. Lily's stomach was rumbling the entire walk here. She nodded eagerly and James allowed her to enter the paddock.

Here, there was no wind. The hedges provided enough shelter to block it out. In the middle of the grass, a roaring bonfire provided light. Surrounding the fire were plates upon plates of food. It was a buffet.

"Is this all for me?" Lily gasped. James smirked and led the way to the plates.  
"Don't be greedy. It's for me as well."

As they sat, two golden plates appeared in front of them. James began loading his up with everything within reach, and when he had taken a sample from each plate, he pushed them to the left. Lily realised the plates were on a wooden revolving table. This way, she didn't have to get up and walk to each plate.

Lily filled up her plate with mainly chicken but added some potato chips and vegetables (health was important). James, although dissatisfied with Lily's choices, remained quiet.

James ensured that they would not eat in silence, it seemed. Blue bells, which Lily thought were just flowers, were tinkling like actual bells, providing a calming atmosphere. The stream as well seemed louder than usual, coupled with the crackling of the fire. Lily was very much at peace while she ate.

James had finished his plate and was helping himself to seconds when Lily had reached the last quarter of her food. Lily thought it was amusing how quickly he ate and how his stomach seemed never ending.

"This was beautiful," she said when she had cleaned her plate at last. James was just finishing off his last mouthful, making a sound of agreement. "Do you want dessert?" he asked. He spun the buffet around until the desserts were in front of them. Jelly, ice-cream, candy of all kinds – including some plain muggle candy James had picked specifically for Lily – éclairs, popcorn, and more were placed in Lily's sight. Lily was absolutely full, but she always had room for dessert. She reached for her bag rather than the plates.

"I kind of brought my own," Lily admitted. She pulled her chocolate dragon, the very same one James had bought her at Honeydukes, out of her bag. She placed it on an empty plate.  
"Undetectable extension charm?" James guessed. Lily nodded shyly. "Impressive. I was wondering how anything could fit in that bag."

Lily broke off the dragon's right arm and offered it to James. He took it and started nibbling. "Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered with dessert," he mused. "You should have told me you'd bring this!"  
"You should have told me we wouldn't skip dinner," Lily retorted.  
"You should have known I wouldn't let you starve."  
Lily sulked. "Don't be mean."

James laughed at her and decided to lie on his side. It was quite warm in front of the fire and he was feeling a little bit sleepy. "So how about that entertainment, huh?" he offered. Lily pursed her lips.  
"Not yet," she decided. "I like the silence."

James let her enjoy the setting. He was happy to watch her observe the paddock for a while. When he finished his dragon arm, he decided he couldn't possibly have any more chocolate, so he helped himself to some jelly.

When darkness fell, Lily consented to the entertainment. "If I wait much longer I'll fall asleep," she chuckled. James whistled, three short bursts, and sat up next to Lily. "Enjoy the show," he said happily. "And remember, they all consented to doing this!"  
Lily wasn't sure what that meant so she was eager to watch carefully in order to understand. James was content playing with Lily's fingers as well as watch the show. There were some parts he couldn't miss, though.

First into the paddock were some house elves. They pranced about the paddock, staying close to the hedges, dancing with each other and squeaking loudly. Their noses were in the air as they swung their arms. They were dressed in coloured tutus with matching flower necklaces. Lily was a bit shocked that the elves would do this, but remembered James said they consented.

Next were the fairies. Vicious creatures, Lily had always thought, but they seemed friendly enough. In all of the colours of the rainbow (and a couple in between) their wings fluttered as they performed a complicated musical number to the sound of the blue bells. Their wings' light reflected onto the bushes around them. They dropped fairy dust over the grass, leaving it silver and shiny.

After them were the fireflies. They came out and hovered over Lily and James, blinking their lights in an organised fashion. Lily held her hand out in awe, and a firefly bravely landed on her palm. Its light was flickering with happiness.

Lastly, James pulled Lily over to the stream without a word. She looked down to see the merpeople swimming in circles, causing waves and bubbles. The water turned from dark blue to an eerie green, reflecting its light all over the paddock. As a last hurrah, the merpeople jumped out of the water and back-flipped, using their tails for momentum. They reminded Lily of dolphins doing show tricks.

Lily got splashed, but James had ducked behind Lily just in time to avoid the spray. He began laughing at her. Lily bent down, gathered some stream water into her hands – most of which slipped through her fingers – and threw it over James. He stopped laughing, although Lily's throw was pitiful and he barely got wet.

"Was that really necessary?"  
Lily nodded firmly. "Now we're even."

James took a threatening step towards the stream. Lily copied him. James smirked as he took another small step, watching Lily mirror his movement.

"Just a warning, James," Lily said as she slyly moved even closer to the stream. "I'm very good at water fights."  
James loved the challenge. "Bring it on, Evans!"


	19. Chapter 19

James and Lily were thrashing about in the waist high stream. The merpeople were miffed at their refuge being tampered with, especially after having taken part in the show, but they swam out of harms' way. Lily and James were almost wrestling to dunk the other under water.

"Give up, Potter!" Lily yelled, getting water in her mouth.  
"Never, Evans!" He bent down to use his hands to soak Lily, but she beat him to it. James was saturated in no time at all and to make things worse, the sudden influx of water made him lose his glasses. It left him no choice at all.

"Alright, mercy! MERCY!"

Lily stopped splashing him with a wide grin on her face. "I win!" she shouted gleefully. She skipped about in the water, causing a current. James' glasses floated further out of sight.  
"Stop moving," James growled. He was struggling to focus on his glasses. They had sunk to the bottom.

Lily looked over, saw that James was looking for his glasses, and pulled out her wand. "I won! Accio James' glasses! I won!" James watched as his glasses zoomed into Lily's hands.  
"Give them back!"  
"Admit that I won, Potter!" Lily shouted. She skipped out of his reach and onto land when James made a grab for his glasses.  
"You didn't win!" James said defiantly. "I had to forfeit due to a disability!"  
"I won!" Lily argued stubbornly. "You gave up which means I won due to determination!"  
"You're more wet than I am," James pointed out. Lily shook her head.  
"Am not! I won!"

James, amused at Lily's antics but also cross he couldn't see, climbed out of the water slowly. "Can I please have my glasses?"  
"Tell me I won," Lily urged. James rolled his eyes.  
"Fine! You won! Now give them back."

Lily handed them over. "You didn't mean it," she mumbled. James put on his glasses quickly and pushed his hair out of his eyes. "Of course not," he grinned. "I obviously won!" Lily was shaking her head. "How about we both won?"  
Lily scoffed. "If we both won, that means we both lost. You said mercy so you lost. Deal with it."

James couldn't argue with her logic. "I'll verse you on the quidditch field," he said as he wrung out his shirt, "and I will win."  
"I don't dispute that at all."

His ego restored, James remembered that he had a wand and could easily dry off his shirt. But he saw the way Lily was eyeing him and he was sure she noticed the way he was looking at her.  
Lily always looked beautiful, but there was something about her being wet…

Sirius always talked about it. Pointed it out in those magazines he loved so much and everything. _Wet is better than dry _was his motto.

Lily was beginning to feel self-conscious and cold. She stood in front of the dwindling fire, eyeing off the food. Her dragon had considerably shrunk in size – it now only had half of its head, its stomach and its legs left. Once again, she wondered what was in its stomach.

James appeared at Lily's side. "We need to head back soon," he said sadly. Lily sighed and looked up at him. To her utmost surprise, James was shirtless. She made a little sound and looked away hurriedly. "Merlin, James! Put some clothes on!"  
"I want my shirt dry!" he whined. "And I can't find my wand!"  
Lily put a hand over her eyes and slowly turned around. She peeked through her fingers to see his face. He was smirking at her.  
"Honestly, Lily," he grinned. "Is that necessary?"  
"Yes!"  
James held up his shirt and waved it in Lily's face. "Can you dry it for me, please? And possibly summon my wand?"  
Lily used her right hand for her wand, which was also the hand she had placed over her eyes. Bravely, she took it away and deliberately didn't look anywhere near James. She waved her wand and James' shirt was dry; another wave brought his wand into her hand.

Lily accidentally looked at James as he was putting his shirt on. She had to admit, he wasn't bad to look at. She wasn't surprised James was confident enough with his body to appear shirtless next to her. He had nothing to be ashamed of. James' muscles were toned and obvious, but pleasantly so.

Lily noticed he buttoned the shirt starting from the bottom. She found that endearing. He also rolled up the sleeve of his left arm first.

"Did you enjoy the show?" James asked when he had finished dressing himself. He took his wand from Lily's grasp and used it to dry his jeans. Lily blushed at being caught watching.  
"I wasn't…" She floundered for words. "I was just…"  
James smirked. "I meant the creatures."

Lily could have died then and there. Of course he was talking about the entertainment. James dressing himself was _not _a show specifically for Lily. Well, it was, but… No!

"I did enjoy the show. It was beautiful." Lily packed her dragon into her bag; a reason to hide her face. Why did everything she say sound like an innuendo?

She felt a tap on her back and felt her clothes dry. Looking up, she saw James had used his wand. "Thanks," she murmured.  
"You're welcome."

Lily slung her bag over her shoulder and took one last wistful look of the paddock. "I don't want to leave here," she admitted. "It's such a beautiful place."  
James had to agree. "I come here almost every week," he admitted to Lily. "When I need some time alone and stuff."  
"You always seem to be surrounded though," Lily said. "You're never seen without your friends."  
James grinned. "Well, we're not seen here are we?"  
"I suppose not."

James wasn't sure whether Lily reached for his hand, or if he reached for hers. All he knew was suddenly they were intertwined.

This time, their hands stayed together for a long time. They only parted when they heard someone's footsteps echoing through the castle walls. Idle chitchat was made during their walk, and thankyou's were said at the portrait before entering the common room.

"You are very late," Marlene commented suggestively when she noticed the couple walk in. She was right, of course. Lily and James had made it back to the common room at ten thirty. Hestia and Marlene were waiting up for her in the common room, whereas James immediately retired to his dormitory. He had had the biggest grin on his face the entire walk back to the castle.

"Get those naughty thoughts out of your head, Marlene McKinnon!" Lily smiled.  
"Puh-lease. As if you didn't see any skin tonight," Marlene said with a roll of her eyes. Lily bit her lip, remembering.  
"Oh Merlin, Lily Evans!" Hestia exclaimed. "You didn't!"  
Marlene saw Lily's expression too. "Details, now!"

"Might have saw him shirtless?" Lily said gingerly. She was smiling widely though; now that she had gotten over her original shock and James was out of sight, she could think rationally.  
Her rational thinking told her that James had a bloody nice body and she was very lucky.

When Hestia and Marlene begged for more information, Lily didn't hold back.

"Well, we headed for the Forbidden Forest…"  
"You went to the Forbidden Forest?" Marlene exclaimed.  
"Lily, you know it's forbidden for a reason, right?" Hestia added.  
Marlene leaned over to Hestia and began whispering loudly. "I think she's off her rocker," Marlene whispered. "Our Lily wouldn't willingly go into that forest!"

Lily started laughing. "I'm not allowed to be specific as to the location," she explained. "I promised James I wouldn't reveal where we went."

Hestia nodded along to this. "Alright, so you went to a place in the Forest. Then what?"

Lily launched into a detailed explanation of her date, pleased that Marlene and Hestia were just as interested in it as she was excited about it.

Little did she know, James was doing almost the complete opposite in the dormitory.

_"Prongs!"_ Sirius whined loudly. "Tell us!"

James was leaning back on his bed with a hand supporting his head. "There's nothing to tell, Padfoot," James said. "Had dinner, did the entertainment thing, and came back."  
"Did she like it?" Remus asked curiously. James grinned at him.  
"Yeah, she loved it. I think she liked the fireflies and merpeople most though," James said. He remembered the water fight and smiled.  
"Did you kiss at all?" Sirius demanded. James scrunched his nose.  
"No."

Sirius twirled dramatically before landing on his bed face first. "What kind of date is a date without a snog?" he yelled, though his voice was muffled. Remus threw a pillow at him.  
"A proper date," Remus said obviously. Sirius sat up immediately.  
"Are you saying I've never been on a proper date?" he demanded.  
"Are you saying you've always kissed a girl on the first date?" Remus retorted. Sirius shrugged.  
"This is irrelevant. Prongs, did you do anything interesting at all?"

James, who had tuned out their conversation and was daydreaming about Lily, didn't reply. Sirius threw the pillow Remus had thrown at him to get James' attention.

"Huh?"  
"Just ignore Sirius, he's being nosey," Remus said. James smirked.  
"I want to know the details," Sirius whined. "Why are you so secretive?"  
James sighed. "The only interesting thing that happened was I took my shirt off because it was wet, okay Padfoot? Do you really want to know the details of that?"  
Sirius cringed. "No… was Lily wet?"

James threw the pillow Sirius had thrown at him before back at Sirius. "Yes, now butt out and court your own girl."

Remus was pleased to hear that James was courting Lily. It was definitely a better (and more successful) way of getting a girls attention than badgering them every day. Remus didn't think he'd ever forget all of James' fails when asking Lily out. They were too memorable.


	20. Chapter 20

It was Thursday, which meant the full moon was tonight. Remus was in the hospital wing that day, just as he always was the day of the full moon. He was too agitated and grumpy to be in classes.

Lily came to visit him, holding his homework from Transfiguration. "Here," she said kindly. "I thought you might like something to do."  
"I don't want to do homework, Lily," Remus snapped. Lily was unperturbed. This happened every full moon. "I brought you some chocolate as well," Lily said and handed that over as well. This caught Remus' attention. He loved chocolate. "Thanks," he grumbled. He immediately ripped into the packaging and started eating.

"James and Sirius said they'll come around after dinner," Lily informed Remus. He nodded – this was normal, as they accompanied him to the Whomping Willow to transform. "And Marlene and Hestia send their love to your mother, along with these." More chocolate was handed over.

Remus always forgot that Marlene and Hestia didn't know of his condition and believed the old cover story. He was so used to being able to speak openly about it with his closest friends that it often slipped his mind.

"Why are you here, Lily?" Remus asked around his chocolate. Lily smiled.  
"Because you're my friend, and friends help each other get through hard times."

She sat on the visitors chair and began her own Transfiguration homework. "James said that the entertainment provided on our date was your idea," Lily said conversationally. Remus forced more chocolate into his mouth. "So what?" he said around the food. Lily tried not to show disgust. Remus always took it the wrong way, thinking that she was disgusted he was a werewolf instead of being disgusted by his bad manners.  
"So, I would like to say thank you for helping him out," Lily said honestly. "You're a really great friend."

Lily and the marauders (except Remus) had a theory that if they reminded Remus of his humanity before he transformed, transforming into a werewolf wouldn't be so rough. Their theory was unproven, though Lily liked to believe it worked, even just a little bit.

"You would make a great marauder, Lily," Remus said at last.  
Lily was shocked. Was that meant to be a compliment? "How and why?"  
"Because friendship is the most important thing a person can have," Remus paused to yawn. "Sorry, Pomfrey gave me a sleeping potion before. You are a valuable friend, Lily. You see us as pranksters… we see us as… friends…"

Remus began snoring and Lily smiled. She took the chocolate out of Remus's hands to stop it from melting and straightened up his bed sheets. "Sleep well, Remus," Lily whispered.

* * *

Lily didn't sleep well that night. She was too hot, then too cold. She woke needing the toilet at least three times. Lily even almost jumped in the shower because she thought she was late for class.

Lily's bed was next to the window, and next to the glass jug of cold water. She helped herself to a cup and stared out of the window. The moon was full and bright. Lily wondered if Remus was alright. She knew the transformation process was awful.

Deciding a cool breeze would be nice on her face, she opened the window and leaned out hopefully. Out of her peripheral vision, she spotted movement. Lily looked directly down below the window to see strange creatures moving about the grounds.

Under the moonlight, Lily recognised a werewolf. It was prowling about, sniffing everything it came across. On its left side, almost out of Lily's view because it was so close to the castle wall, a shaggy black dog was bounding happily alongside. On the right, a stag was standing tall.

"_James?_" Lily gasped. The stag looked up, having heard Lily. The werewolf also looked up and began growling. The black dog nipped the werewolf's leg and ran away with a quiet bark. The werewolf began chasing him.

The stag hadn't looked away from Lily the entire time. Lily looked at it at last, only to watch it toss his head proudly and gallop off to where the werewolf ran off to.

Lily was shocked. Were the boys really that stupid? Well, she supposed she didn't see Peter… but that wasn't the point! They were letting a werewolf roam about the school! Unprotected!

As furious as Lily was, she wasn't stupid enough to go outside and confront them right away. Remus could very easily kill her… or turn her. Lily wasn't sure which the worse fate was. Anything Lily wanted to say would have to wait until morning.

But morning didn't come quickly. Lily was wide awake and completely unsure as to what she should do. Going to Dumbledore seemed to be the logical option… but they were unregistered Animagi, they could get expelled and arrested!

Deep down inside her heart, Lily knew that they were only supporting their friend. But logic was telling her that they were being dangerous and reckless. Her emotions fought back, arguing that James had recognised her in his Animagi form (Lily had read up on them once she'd discovered James' secret and knew that in your animagus form, you were almost completely overcome by your animal's brain and instincts). All throughout the night she fought with herself, until she drifted off into an uneasy sleep at dawn.

James confronted Lily in the morning as she was coming down the stairs. "I know you have something to say so let's go somewhere private so no one can hear," he said quietly. Lily was not furious anymore; rather, she had toned herself down to just a tad angry and more than disappointed.

He led her to an abandoned classroom on the sixth floor. "You look tired," Lily observed. James ran a hand through his hair. "Well, you know why. So let's get this over with. Feel free to start yelling."

Maybe a few months ago, Lily would have started screaming. Maybe even just a single month ago. But Lily had matured so much in such a short amount of time, and learned things about James and discovered a depth to him that she had never seen before. Lily had all last night to think about what she was going to say, and she had discarded everything. She wasn't going to yell.

"I can't believe that you would do something so reckless," Lily said at last. James winced at her quiet tone. "He's a _werewolf, _James."  
"He's my friend," James corrected. "He needs support in the full moon."  
"Support, yes!" Lily agreed strongly. "But not adventure, James! You're putting everyone's lives at Hogwarts at risk! What if someone else saw you through the window?"  
"Usually, we don't linger at the castle," James defended himself. "We run straight to the Forbidden Forest."  
"So what made last night so special?" Lily asked. She leaned back on a desk, crossing her arms over her chest. "Wanted to feel the breeze in your antlers?"  
James glared. "They're _prongs_. And I… it's stupid, but I was hoping to see you. I wanted to know if I would recognise you."  
Lily rolled her eyes. "You can't risk exposing Remus' condition for a _girl_, James."  
"That's exactly what Sirius said," James admitted with a smile. "But I had to know."  
"As sweet as that is, James, I stand by what I said before. I can't believe you would do something so reckless."

James' temper flared. "We've been doing this since fifth year, Evans. We know what to do if things go downhill. We've never been caught, not ever. Don't expect us to stop helping Moony have fun during the most awful and depressing part of his life just because you tell us to," James argued ferociously. "You may be Head Girl, but newsflash: I'm Head Boy too. I know that I'm doing the right thing."

Lily felt sad. What she was trying to say just wasn't coming out right and James wasn't hearing it.

"I'm not telling you to stop what you're doing, James," Lily said calmly. James looked surprised.  
"You're not?"  
"No! Of course not. I completely agree with you; you're making light of a bad circumstance. I'm trying to tell you to _be careful. _Roaming about in the open is reckless and you could get caught." Lily's voice dropped to a whisper. "You could go to Azkaban."

James shrugged carelessly. "Maybe we could share a cell together."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Just… please, _please _don't linger in sight of the castle anymore, okay?" Lily begged. "I don't want you guys to get in trouble. The authorities won't be as understanding as I am."  
James smirked. "Well, I have to admit, I didn't expect you to understand."  
"I know." Lily smiled up at James, a smile which James returned. "But I'm a different person, James. I understand your value of friendship, and I understand that I have been rather narrow-minded to you in the past. I'm trying to remain open-minded now and accept that you're a bit different from me."  
James laughed. "A bit?"  
"A bit."  
"So how are we similar?" James asked. Lily shook her head.  
"I'm not going into that right now. I need my breakfast!"

Together, the two exited the classroom and made their way to the Great Hall. "Are you going to come to classes?" Lily asked. James looked extremely tired.  
"I have to," he shrugged. "People have seen me. The others won't though, the lazy bastards."  
Lily was concerned. "But you won't be able to concentrate. Your magic might not work properly."  
James gave Lily a lazy grin, smothering a yawn. "You'll just have to help me out then."

That's right, Lily and James had classes together today. Only two though; Transfiguration and Potions. Lily was sure it was going to be an interesting day.


	21. Chapter 21

Transfiguration did not start well.

James, busy yawning, didn't see the stand McGonagall had placed at the front of the classroom. Lily had smartly avoided it, but James knocked it over. On top of the stand was a box of kittens.

The squeals James heard were loud and were still ringing in his hears. Things about _animal cruelty_ and _you must be a dog person, _which made Lily snicker. McGonagall had come out to see what all the ruckus was about, saw Lily laughing at James, ordered them to pick up the kittens and deducted five points from Gryffindor.

Lily had then sat next to James, rather than Hestia. Marlene made a big deal out of it, too. "We've been replaced," Marlene said scandalously. "Bro's before ho's, Lily!"  
Hestia hid her face in shame. "Shut up, Marlene," she snapped.  
"What? It's just a bit of fun."

James was eavesdropping, like Lily. "I seem to have caused a disruption in the balance," he noted. Lily shrugged. "Marlene is just a bit dramatic sometimes, that's all. Sometimes she goes too far."  
James thought she sounded like a female Sirius, but decided against pointing that out to Lily.

Transfiguration had started out badly, but it ended even worse.

Lily had been having a great time with James. He was making her laugh and smile, and even though he was tired, he remained energised. He had been having some trouble turning his cat into a statue, though.  
"Wave your wand like _this,_" Lily demonstrated perfectly. James watched carefully.  
"I don't think –" he started, but Lily shook her head.  
"Nonsense. Just try!"

Following Lily's advice, he tried to copy her wand movements. Unfortunately, he messed up a flick – he flicked to the left instead of upwards. This mistake turned out to be disastrous, however.  
The kitten, instead of turning into a statue, started growing. And growing. It didn't stop growing.

James and Lily quickly gathered their stuff and moved out of the way. "Uh… Professor?" Lily called out weakly. Professor McGonagall had her back turned to the Heads, helping another student. Lily's call alerted the other students to the giant cat (which was now as tall as Lily and incredibly fat) and a few girls started screaming. One boy fainted.

"Class dismissed!" McGonagall shouted. "Potter! Evans! Stay behind!"

James and Lily were unwilling to stay behind in the classroom – the cat was now as tall as McGonagall herself – so they moved out the door, following the crowd of excited students. Marlene and Hestia were waiting for them, giggling.  
"Brilliant!" Marlene said enthusiastically. "Out of class early!"  
"And a giant kitten will be roaming the school in no time at all," Hestia commented. "If it can get through the door."

"Maybe it'll eat us before McGonagall can take any more house points off," James said. Lily looked doubtful. The door burst open and McGonagall flew out, slamming the door behind her. She rounded on James.

"Is this another prank of yours?" she demanded. "Because, Potter, I have no tolerance for this kind of misbehaviour!"  
"It was an accident, Professor," he said meekly. Lily nodded quickly when the professor looked to her for confirmation. "I think I waved my wand wrong."  
McGonagall looked dumbfounded. "How can you mess it up? There are only three steps!"  
"He flicked to the left instead of upwards," Lily interjected. McGonagall sighed.  
"Of course. Very well, Miss Evans. You can go."

Lily walked away confusedly, wondering why James wasn't allowed to join her. Hestia and Marlene had run off somewhere, too; Lily thought they were waiting for her but had obviously ditched when McGonagall showed. Lily sighed. The castle was big and there were plenty of places to hide.

She decided an early lunch would do her good so she headed for the Great Hall.

Professor McGonagall was listening to make sure Lily was well out of earshot before she began. "So, Potter. How're the ball plans coming along?"  
James was surprised. He just created a giant kitten that disrupted her class and she wanted to talk about a ball? "It's coming along great, Professor. Hestia Jones is helping out with the designing."  
"Helping out or doing?" McGonagall asked slyly.  
"Well… doing," James admitted. "But I've been busy organising Halloween with Lily."  
McGonagall grinned. "Ah yes, Halloween. Your plans have to be in to me by Wednesday. I look forward to seeing what you have planned for this year."

McGonagall patted James on his shoulder before returning to the classroom. Hopefully to deal with the kitten, James thought.

His stomach grumbled and James headed to the Great Hall for lunch. Once there, he sat next to Lily (of course) and almost fell asleep on his plate.

Potions didn't fare much better than Transfiguration.

Slughorn had decided to teach the class to brew Felix Felicis, after warning them that is it illegal to use in many circumstances and has disastrous consequences should they mess up the potion. They would be creating the potion for the next six months. As it was, the first few steps of the potion were critical.

Lily was partnered with James.

"Oho, Head's together!" Slughorn had chortled. "Yes, I expect the best from you!"

Lily had offered to do the beginning of the potion on her own. James, knowing that Lily was an excellent potion maker and he was far too tired to be able to do anything properly, readily agreed. Lily managed to do the first five steps of the potion on her own before Slughorn swooped down on them.

"What's this? Potter, head up! This is partnered work!" James groaned and lifted his heavy head from his arms to watch Slughorn. He moved about the table to look in the cauldron. "Perfect brewing, Lily. Move on."

Lily waited just for a second to see if Slughorn would move away but he didn't move an inch. He obviously planned to stay and watch. Lily lifted up the bottle containing lavender oil. The potion only required a single drop. "Let James do it," Slughorn encouraged. "Partnered work means sharing the workload!"

James looked at Lily apologetically. Usually, James had quite a steady hand. Today, it was a bit on the shaky side. It was no problem though; James could control it easily enough. He lifted up the bottle and began to gently squeeze the bottle.

Someone knocked into James from behind, causing him to squeeze the bottle too hard. An influx of lavender oil went into the potion, causing it to splutter and turn from a light purple to an ugly brown. James, furious that someone caused him to screw up the potion, stood and looked for the culprit.

It was Snape.

He was standing to James' left with a malicious grin on his face that quickly disappeared. James wanted to attack him so badly; his lack of sleep meant that his emotions were running on edge. Any other day, James would have shrugged it off. Today, James wanted to kill him. He quickly grabbed the cauldron sitting in front of him and aimed it at Snape's head. He was ready to throw.

"Boys! Settle!" Slughorn yelled. Snape had pulled out his wand threateningly and was aiming it as James' chest. "Put your weapons down immediately!"

James didn't move until Snape lowered his wand. "Sorry, Professor," Snape muttered. "It was an accident."  
James snorted. "Bullshit. You deliberately did that, you greasy haired slimeball."  
Snape raised his wand and James raised the bubbling cauldron in retaliation. Lily, horrified at what was going on and well aware that the rest of the class was watching with wide eyes, tugged on James' robes. "James," she hissed. "You're causing a scene."

He looked around, saw everyone watching, decided Snape wasn't worth detention and thumped the cauldron back on the burner. "Right. An accident."  
Snape sneered at Lily. "Better keep your reindeer on a leash."

Lily was so shocked at the attack that she didn't reply. Snape returned to his station in the heavy silence of the room. Slughorn cleared his throat.  
"Well then, yes, okay. Everyone back to work! Back to work…" He waved his hands and the class dispersed. "Best start again, Lily dear," Slughorn added, then returned to the front of the class to sit. His face was very red and he was sweating profusely.

"I could kill him," James growled. He was wide awake and furious with Snape. The immature piece of crap! How dare he! What was the point?  
"Calm down, James," Lily said. She had cleaned out the cauldron and was refilling it with ingredients. "It's not that bad."  
"He wanted to make me look incompetent," James argued.  
"He was starting a fight," Lily corrected. "He wanted you to get in trouble."  
"Dumping the cauldron on his head would have been worth the detention," James mumbled, but he didn't really mean it. Snape wasn't worth any detention. Besides, Marlene had already done that this year, and James didn't repeat pranks.

"Why don't you do the easy steps, like stirring?" Lily suggested. James shrugged.  
"I don't care."

Marlene and Hestia hurried over to Lily's station. "What was all that about?" Hestia whispered. James stabbed the cauldron with the stirring rod. "Sabotage, that's what."  
"Snape wanted James to screw up the potion in front of Slughorn," Lily informed her friends. They rolled their eyes. "How pathetic," Marlene said loudly. "Shall I dump another cauldron on his head?"  
Lily held back a grin. "No. He's not worth it. Let's just get back to work."

James and Lily were on edge the rest of the lesson, expecting backlash from the other Slytherins in the class. However, none came near them and no more sabotage occurred.

When Snape strode past Marlene and Hestia's work station to get to the ingredients cupboard, Marlene stuck her foot out and successfully tripped Snape over. He landed face first on the hard ground. Hestia burst out laughing, then covered her mouth to stifle it. Snape rose to his feet, glaring at Marlene.  
"What was that for?" he demanded crossly. Marlene gave him a sweet smile.  
"I'm sorry, Snivellus," she said pleasantly. "It was an accident."

Fuming, red in the face, and embarrassed, Snape stayed far away from the Gryffindors for the rest of the lesson.


	22. Chapter 22

"Please look after him," Lily begged Hestia. She looked unsure.  
"Lily, we aren't exactly friends," Hestia reminded her. Lily looked sad.  
"He's had a rough day, Hestia. You've seen what has happened. He didn't get any sleep last night either, he was with Remus…" Lily trailed off. Hestia thought it was sweet that James stayed up all night to comfort his mate. Remus' mother must be so ill.

"Alright," Hestia agreed. "I'll try to keep him awake."

Lily hugged her quickly with a huge smile on her face. "You're the best." She bounded off to tell James the news.

Hestia gathered her stuff and put on her gloves to protect her hands from the chill. James appeared at her side. "You don't have to do this," James yawned. "I should just go to bed."  
"Yes, you should," Hestia agreed. "But I already told Lily I'd help you and I intend on keeping my word. Now come on."  
James sighed. He just wanted to get some sleep. He thought of Sirius and Peter, still snoring in their warm beds in the dormitory. James was jealous.

Hestia led the way down to the grounds. Some students were already gathered around Hagrid's hut, chatting loudly. Hestia stayed by James' side and even let him lean on her until Professor Kettleburn showed. He was wearing a bright yellow coat with fur trimming around the collar.

"Fire crabs!" he shouted gleefully. "Come on, around we go. Got some nice fires burning around here somewhere…"

The class followed the eccentric professor happily. Fire crabs were easy creatures that were relatively pretty to look at. After a lengthy walk about the grounds, Professor Kettleburn eventually found the fires (simply on the other side of Hagrid's hut) but by the time he had, half of the lesson had passed.  
"Nothing else quite like a brisk walk," he said, waving away the concerns of other students. "Besides, you've done this before. This is just revision!"

Hestia led the way to the smallest fire, pulling James along behind her. "You can sit here," Hestia said, gesturing to a log. James sat gratefully. Hestia sat opposite him, warming herself by the fire. She watched James doze. "I think I've almost finalised the plans for the Ball," Hestia said quietly. James looked at her sleepily. "I didn't realise you were still doing that. Thanks."  
Hestia shrugged. "It was fun. I know you'll want to go over the plans though, so I'll give them to you another day. Do you need any help with Halloween?"

Hestia loved planning events. When Lily hadn't told her any details about Halloween, she was disappointed. Now James was tired, he might slip up.

"Nah," James yawned. "McGonagall wants the plans in by next Wednesday. Lily's got it sorted… I hope…"

He moved into a reclining position, choosing to rest his head on the log rather than sit up any longer. Hestia watched as he stretched his legs. "The fire crab is next to your head," Hestia warned with a grin that James didn't see. James stiffened. "Seriously?"  
"Yes. Move slowly and it won't burn you."

James tried his hardest to move slowly, so as not to frighten the creature. He had just made it into a sitting position when Professor Kettleburn appeared.

"Ah, fire crabs!" he exclaimed. "They shoot fire out of their asses! Isn't that brilliant?"

The sudden loud noises frightened the fire crab. Luckily for James, he was paying attention and leaped out of the way quickly. A burst of flame shot out of the crab's backside, bright red with a centre of blue. Professor Kettleburn started chuckling.

"Yes, yes. Brilliant creatures they are."

He moved away, leaving James and Hestia alone. James sighed. "This has been the worst day ever," he grumbled. Hestia laughed.  
"Sure it has, James. Can I ask you something?"  
"Alright."  
"Well, two things. How are you going to ask Lily to the ball if it has to be a secret?"  
"McGonagall is gonna let everyone know a week beforehand, so I'll ask her then, I guess. What's your next question?"  
Hestia twisted her fingers. "What if she says no?"

James hadn't thought of this. It never even crossed his mind as a possibility. Now that Hestia had asked, he couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it.

"I don't know," James said simply. "Guess I'll go stag."

Peter would have laughed at his pun.

Hestia looked unimpressed with his answer. "Isn't this ball for Lily?"  
"She can still enjoy it," James said. "I just won't be her date."  
Hestia patted James' shoulder softly. "That's very kind of you to say. Well, I'll do my best to make sure she goes with you."  
James raised an eyebrow at Hestia. "Why would you do that?"  
"Because I see the way she looks at you, I see the way you look at her. She'd be a fool to say no."

With that, Hestia smiled at him, and began cleaning out the crab's shell.


	23. Chapter 23

It was Halloween at last. Lily was excited to see how their decorations turned out, and nervous to see what everyone thought of them.

McGonagall had been impressed with their ideas for Halloween. She even thought Sirius' idea of a pumpkin parade was a good one. So, with more vigour than Lily had ever seen, McGonagall recruited all of the staff – including Dumbledore – to set up the school appropriately.

As James and Lily descended from Gryffindor tower, they admired their handiwork. The portraits were rusty and covered in cobwebs. Fake spiders (thankfully) crawled over the walls. The stairs looked seemingly harmless, but each stair creaked loudly; this meant that with the influx of students heading off to classes, a horrible, scratchy, moaning sound was heard constantly throughout the castle. The higher up the castle you got, the higher pitch the creaking was.

Peeves was causing mischief, though Dumbledore and the Bloody Baron had restricted him to usually unused hallways. For instance, the corridor before the Divination classroom – Peeves had thrown an armful of grapes at the third years' heads without missing a single target. He also happily dragged the ends of canes and walking sticks along the walls, adding to the creaking of the castle. Filch was none too pleased with this as Peeves left scratch marks on the stone.

Hagrid had grown pumpkins as large as the first years and had carved them. The largest three were placed in the Entrance Hall, with the next two largest guarding the doors to the Great Hall. Dumbledore had bewitched them to talk; James changed it so they screamed insults in deep voices. Professor Flitwick charmed them to look rotting and black, despite their cheerful pink, orange, green and red demeanours.

Many students paused upon entering the Great Hall, fuelling James and Lily's ego immensely. Skulls were floating in the Great Hall with tiny candles stuck to them, replacing the usual gold candles. Their light was dimmed, giving the hall an eerie atmosphere. The ceiling was dark, grey and cloudy, with a bit of mist. It would remain like this the entire day. Nearly Headless Nick was floating about with his head unattached to his neck, revealing his horrific beheading. Small and hollow orange pumpkins were floating along the house tables, filled with either candy or creatures. Lily was very proud of this idea, as it reminded her of the muggle "trick or treat" tradition. James thought it was brilliant.

_"Maybe we should do the creatures for the Slytherin table," _he had sniggered._ "Roaches and maggots sound good to me!"_

The owl post was transfigured upon entering the Great Hall. Each parcel, letter, object, or newspaper carried by the owls was transfigured into a tiny pumpkin, colour-coded for each house. When the owls first flew in, murmurs of confusion could be heard throughout the Hall. Lily watched as a tiny red pumpkin dropped in front of her; upon landing on the table, it immediately returned to its original state of the Daily Prophet newspaper. Pleased with the crafty spellwork, Lily opened up the paper and began reading. James thumped down beside her.

"We did really well, didn't we?" Lily nodded her agreement.  
"Has anyone seen the statues yet?" she asked. James shook his head.  
"Remus and Sirius are finishing them now."  
Lily nodded again. She had complete faith that whatever they were doing to the statues; it was sure to look great.

Suddenly, out from the Entrance hall, a giant shout was heard. The Great hall silenced almost immediately.  
_"Piertotum locomotor!" _

That was Sirius.

McGonagall, James and Lily immediately jumped up from their seats to see the show. The deputy headmistress, however, was not happy. "Black!" she screeched. She hitched up her robes and almost ran the length of the Great Hall. "I thought _I_ was going to have the benefit of casting that spell!"

McGonagall was still shouting as she threw the doors open wide. By doing do, she allowed the rest of the school view to the school statues, which were leaving their usual places and landing on the floor with a small earthquake one by one. The disgruntled statues were precariously balancing gaudy wizard hats on their armoured heads. Many of the hats (looking remarkably like the Sorting Hat in all but colour) were bright red, pastel blue, neon yellow and grass green to represent each school house. A few other hats were pink, purple and gold. Each hat was decorated with real bats that flapped their wings and screeched.

To everyone's delight, the statues began marching into the Great Hall. James and Lily backed away to let the younger kids admire their handiwork. Each statue had a basket of Halloween gifts and candy to hand out throughout the day.

"I guess you didn't need my help after all," Hestia grumbled from behind Lily, making her laugh.  
"Of course not, Hestia! I think we did remarkably well."  
Marlene was nodding her head enthusiastically. "Yeah you did. A perfect last Halloween at Hogwarts, if you ask me."

A wave of sadness flowed through Lily. "Guys," she murmured. Her low tone immediately got her friends' attention. "This is actually our last Halloween at Hogwarts! This is it!" Lily felt like bawling and Hestia could tell. She pulled her fiery friend into a quick hug. "Hey, the year isn't over yet," she encouraged Lily. "There's still plenty of schooling left before you need to get all emotional!"

Lily sniffed. "I suppose you're right. Come on, we'd better get to class."

The trio turned to leave the Great Hall, smiling at the first years who were amazed at the magic and the other seventh years that seemed to had come to the same realisation Lily did.

"Hey, Evans! Wait up!"

With a smile on her face, Lily almost snapped her neck looking back at James, who was approaching her quickly. Telling her friends that she'd meet up with them in class, and ignoring their suggestive winks, she waited for James patiently.

"Not a bad show, eh?" Lily said conversationally. James shrugged.  
"Got something better planned for Christmas," he said. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here. I have something important to ask you."

Lily waited, but when all James did was run a hand through his already messy hair, she said, "Okay, shoot."

James was nervous. He promised himself he wouldn't do it but _Merlin _this seemed like the perfect time and _Merlin _she looked beautiful and _Merlin _"Will you _please_ be my girlfriend?" James bit his lip while he waited for his immediate rejection.

"Um."


	24. Chapter 24

"You haven't asked me that all year," Lily said stupidly. James' hopes crashed.  
"Yeah, I know," he mumbled. "Never mind, I'll see you later."

James began walking away. What was he thinking? He should have kept his promise.

"James, wait!" Lily caught his wrist, tugging him back. A sudden increase in heart-rate made James nervous again. Was that his hopes rising? James realised Lily still hadn't said anything and was twiddling her fingers.  
"I'm not saying no," Lily said finally, looking up at James with big green eyes. James didn't dare to grin in celebration. "But I'm not saying yes either."

What was Lily playing at? Did she think this was a game?

"I want you to show me why I should be yours," Lily mumbled, blushing faintly. James frowned.  
"I've been doing that all year," he pointed out. "Is that not good enough for you?"  
Lily was shaking her head. "I don't know what you've been doing all year, James, but this is different. Show me why I should _want _to be yours. Show me that I can trust you, and show me what I've been missing out on. Show me that I've been stupid for the last six years for not calling you mine."

James smirked at Lily's awkwardness. His smirk sparked a reaction in Lily; she stood up straight with her shoulders back and her chin high in the air. "Is that a challenge?" James grinned. Determination shone in Lily's eyes. "Yes, that's a challenge."

She began to strut away, swaying her hips ever so slightly. "Challenge accepted," James called out happily. Lily smiled to herself.

"Just to make it a bit more tricky," Lily said as she turned to James, walking backwards now, "You have seven days."  
"I could do it in five!" James yelled at her retreating figure. This time, Lily did not turn.  
"Then do it in three," was her reply.

* * *

What had gotten into Lily? When did she get so bold?

Lily hurried off to class, overthinking their entire encounter. In three days' time, Lily would either have James Potter to call her own, or not. Just three days.

In her mind, a week was an acceptable time. She should have remembered that James liked to show off. Maybe her original deadline should have been a month?

It didn't matter now. Three days.

* * *

Three days was both the longest and shortest amount of time for James. While he only had three days to convince Lily of his worth, he still had three days. That was 72 hours. Actually, it didn't seem like that long at all.

Maybe he should have stuck with a week, instead of being overly confident. Five days was probably pushing his luck. But of course, Lily would have to top him. She always did.

James spent that entire morning lost in thought. He only had three days… but the Christmas Ball was his plan… James definitely wanted to officially ask her at the Christmas Ball. That was the whole reason for the bloody thing anyway.

Three days. If only he could do one a month or something…

James had an epiphany. Lily had said three days, right? No other criteria or constrictions. She didn't specify that they had to be three consecutive days. James could easily space out this challenge.

But, James was a gentlemen and he would not leave Lily to work that out on her own. He would write her a letter, explaining the predicament and his solution.

Girls loved letters, didn't they?


	25. Chapter 25

_Lovely Lily._

_Day One of our challenge shall commence on November 24. It is then we shall discuss the finer details of the challenge. Meet me at the Library at precisely seven p.m. _

_Do not be late._

_P.S: No, we will not be skipping dinner.  
P.P.S: Yes, I will be providing it._

_With love, James._

Lily had held onto James' letter for the last three weeks. He gave it to her on the first day of November and she had not let it out of reach. It was crumpled and a bit ripped from being forced into her pockets every day.

Needless to say, today was the twenty-fourth, it was six forty-five, and Lily was on her way to the Library. Her heart fluttered thinking about what James had planned. Why had he left it so late?

She walked down the corridors, her footsteps echoing on the walls. The Library doors were up ahead, but James was nowhere in sight. This didn't worry Lily; she was early, after all.

Entering her favourite place in all of Hogwarts, she breathed in the comforting smell of books. Keeping an eye on the time, Lily decided that a quick browse wouldn't hurt anyone so long as she stayed near the front where she could be seen.

Passing the 'B' section, Lily felt a presence behind her. She pretended not to notice until she reached the 'C' section. "You're late," Lily accused.

James came into her vision, shrugging casually. "I'm not late. I said meet me here at seven. It's only…" James looked at the clock. "Six fifty-seven."  
James was dressed in a casual button down shirt with black slacks. Mortified, Lily realised that she was still in her school robes. "Should I have dressed differently?" Lily asked quietly, gesturing to her attire. James appraised her body, then shook his head.  
"If you're comfortable, so am I. Are you ready to go?"  
Lily gestured towards the Library doors. "Lead the way."

James led Lily to an abandoned classroom on the fourth floor. It should have been dusty and more than a little dirty, but someone had evidently been in here to clean up. Not a speck of dust was in sight, not a piece of furniture was out of place, not a single smudge on the windows. A dozen floating candles, obviously stolen from the Great Hall, were providing the golden glow of the room.

In the centre a red and white checked picnic blanket was laying. A large, weaved wooden basket was sitting beside it, overflowing with food. Lily eyed James curiously.

"A picnic?" she questioned. "Seems a bit basic for you."

James huffed and sat on the blanket. "Are you not impressed by the simplicity?"  
"Not really," Lily teased as she joined him. She reached for the basket but James snatched it first, opening it up and letting the tempting scent of bread waft out. Without Lily noticing, he slipped a folded piece of parchment out of the basket and sat on it.

"I thought the food should be basic, too," James said confidently, but inside he was nervous. What if Lily really wasn't teasing and she wanted extravagant food? James had always wanted to give Lily the best but she never seemed to want it. His doubts were overpowering. Handing over the basket for Lily to pick through, he began to ramble. "I mean, if you don't like any of it, I suppose we can just go down to the kitchens…"

Lily rolled her eyes at James and unpacked the food. "Relax, James. It's all perfect."

Something bubbled within James' stomach pleasantly. A smile from Lily was what convinced him he was on the right track. James took a deep breath and calmed himself. Why did he always have to get nervous on 'official' dates? Can't he just pretend it was a normal day?

Lily urged James to dig in to the food, having just finished laying it out on the blanket. She herself had already filled her plate with four different types of cheese, a large handful of plain biscuits, dedicated half of her plate to fruit, a small corner to chicken, bacon and sausage, and left the middle specifically for nuts. James looked amused.

"I love finger food," Lily explained. "My parents always used to fill my plate according to the layout of the table."  
"I don't understand," James admitted. Lily frowned.  
"If the nuts were in the middle of the table, they would go in the middle of my plate," Lily explained. "Meats on the right side of the table; right side of my plate. Understand?"

James observed Lily's plate and noted the layout. He chuckled. "You are very strange, Miss Evans."  
"Organisation never killed anybody," she sniffed. "Besides, it could be worse. I could eat like a starving man."

James glared at Lily, as he was shovelling food into his mouth at that very moment. The comment was definitely directed at him. "I'm a growing boy!" he said around his food. Lily looked disgusted which made James throw a grape at her. "No frowning, Lily. It gives you wrinkles. Besides, it could be worse," he mimicked. Lily smiled. "I could eat like Sirius."

Lily's smile disappeared.

After they had eaten their full, and James had whipped out a sticky date pudding from nowhere and shared it with Lily, James began to get nervous again. He had two and a half hours to go. Deciding to pass the time the only way he knew how, James started to talk.

Lily was pleased that James was chatty, for she was nervous as well. They talked about Head duties and, after a brief argument, decided to reuse the patrol timetable for next month. Remus was brought up in conversation and they wondered what had happened to the giant kitten James created in Transfiguration. James jokingly pointed to the sausage and declared it cat.

"It _is,_" James stressed. "It's cat!"  
"No, it isn't," Lily giggled. "I know what cat tastes like!"  
James was disgusted. "Holy hell, Lily Evans. That is gross."  
"Dim Sims are quite a popular Chinese food in the muggle world," Lily said with a completely straight face.

Of course, Lily was lying. Dim Sims were not made from cats. But it was a running joke between Lily and her father and she was keen to see how James would react.

"I don't believe you," James said unsurely. Lily began giggling. "Evans, you actually _are_ lying!" He threw a cube of cheese at her, which she caught and threw back. Impressively, he caught it in his mouth and ate it, Lily erupting in laughter.

The clock stroke nine, then ten, and finally James deemed it time to end their date. He hadn't noticed the time passing quickly; he was so immersed in Lily and everything that she was that he was pretty oblivious to the outside world.

The parchment James had stolen from the basket at the beginning of the date had long since been returned to the basket, along with most of the plates of food. Lily had insisted the nuts remain within reach.

"So do you think you can manage it?" Lily asked. James looked at her curiously.  
"Win the game? Yeah, of course, it's only against the Hufflepuffs." James shrugged modestly.  
Lily snorted. "Moving on from quidditch, James. I was talking about the challenge."

James chewed his lip. "Well, how did tonight go then? In your opinion?"  
"Lovely, as always," Lily said kindly. "Can't wait to see what you've got planned tomorrow." At James' mischievous grin, she demanded to know what he was thinking about.

"I suppose this is as better time as any," he said mysteriously. "I prepared this earlier. Just to clear up any misconceptions about our challenge."  
Lily's curiosity peaked. "What are you talking about?" James smirked at her.  
"Come on, we should get back to the common room. Help me fold the blanket, will you?"

With a wave of Lily's wand and a disapproving frown from James – who had wanted to fold it manually, just to show that he could – they were leaving the classroom and on their way. James had taken out his letter and Vanished the basket (refusing to admit to Lily that Remus had transfigured it from a twig). Not wanting to leave the classroom, they dawdled back to the tower. The common room was only three flights of stairs away.

They took so long, in fact, that they had the misfortune of running into Filch.

"Aha!" he shouted gleefully. "Students out of bed! I'll have you now, Potter! Come with me!"  
"Afraid not, Mister Filch," James said easily. He pulled his Head Boy badge out of his pocket. "Just finished my patrol shift with Miss Evans here."  
Filch was puffing loudly, clutching an ugly cat to his chest. "You're lying, come with me!"  
James rolled his eyes and almost began to follow Filch, but Lily intervened. "Actually, Mister Filch, if you have a problem with us being out of bed – because we were finishing school duties, mind you – you can take it up with Professor Dumbledore."

Lily grabbed James' hand and quickly led the way to the tower, leaving Filch gobsmacked and stuttering. Once out of sight, Lily began to giggle uncontrollably. "I've never seen him look so shocked!"  
James looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Careful, Evans. If you keep this up you might actually give him a heart failure." Lily waved her hand, obviously thinking that what James said was irrelevant. This made James grin.

"Snuffle snout," Lily said promptly. James realised they had reached the portrait and Lily was now clambering through. James remembered the letter in his pocket and took it out, fiddling with it. Lily paused, waiting for him to climb through. "Aren't you coming?" she asked. James nodded and quickly followed her.

"So, I prepared this earlier," James began with a smile. Lily didn't take her eyes off the parchment in James' hand. "Just to clear up any misconceptions about our challenge," he repeated. Lily looked nervous.  
"Okay," she said unsurely. James reached for a strand of Lily's hair, twirling it around his finger before letting it drop. He handed over the letter.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said quietly, then disappeared into his dormitory.

Lily waited until she heard the door close before she sat in front of the fire. The parchment was resting of the floor in front of her. Faintly, she could see James' loopy scrawl. With a deep breath, Lily unfolded the parchment.

_Lily dearest._

_You asked me to show you why you should want to be mine. You told me to show you that you can trust me, and show you what you've been missing out on. Show you that you've been stupid for the last six years for not calling me yours._

_Well, I won't._

_Not today, anyway, and certainly not in this letter. You gave me three days to fill your criteria; I have chosen which dates. You did not say they had to be consecutive. You didn't give me any rules. Three days is equal to seventy two hours. I will use the time, down to the last minute, to remind you of how good of a friend I have been to you so far this year. Of all the progress we've made over the last two, nearly three months. I will remind you, not convince or persuade you. Either your feelings are there, or they aren't, and nothing I do over seventy two hours will change that._

_Without the use of a love potion, of course, but I will refrain from using those! _

_Our next date will be one week from now; November 30. Hogsmeade weekend. I've used three hours of your time tonight; sixty nine hours to go. From eight in the morning, to four in the afternoon, I would be honoured if you graced me with your presence. _

_With love,__ Hope to see you then,  
James._

Lily clutched the letter to her chest with a smile. Hogsmeade was sure to be a blast.


	26. Chapter 26

Lily descended from her dormitory by herself, Marlene and Hestia having left minutes earlier for breakfast. James was sitting with Remus, deep in discussion, however Remus spotted Lily and quickly left. James turned, resting one arm on the back of the couch, with a smile on his face.

"Technically, three days are equal to thirty six hours if you say that a day is twelve hours long and you don't include night time," Lily said as she plonked herself next to him.  
"You would find a technicality, wouldn't you," James muttered, which made Lily laugh.  
"I look forward to Hogsmeade, James," Lily said after a moment of pleasant silence. James cocked his head in thought. "Well, if you're shortening my time limit to thirty six hours, I may want to rethink my plan," he teased. Lily hit his arm softly.  
"You can have as much time as you like," she said. Resting into his side, Lily sighed happily. "You're really comfy, did you know?"

James was trying his hardest to remain calm and collected. _Lily was leaning on him by choice! _Did this count as cuddling? Was this first base? Lily was so warm and soft against him. Instinctively, he rested his arm around Lily's shoulders.

To his utmost displeasure, his moment of bliss was interrupted when Sirius appeared in the common room. "Prongs!" he shouted. Lily jumped away from James' side, taking her warmth away. After a moment of hesitation, she got up and left for breakfast without a goodbye.

James threw his head back on the couch. "Padfoot," he groaned, "Have you heard of tact?"  
Sirius looked confused. "Tact? Of course! I have plenty of it!" Rolling his eyes, James stood, stretched, and then followed Sirius out of the common room. "Lily and I were having a moment," James informed Sirius. "She was touching me, Padfoot, like actually _touching _me!"  
Sirius held up a hand. "Woah, Prongs, stop right there. I do not want to know where she touches you when I'm not around."  
"We were _cuddling,_ Sirius!"  
"I don't want to know. Anyway, can I look over your Transfiguration essay? There's some things I need to check." He looked at James hopefully, who didn't believe him for a second.  
"Let me guess, Remus didn't let you look at his?" James asked with a smirk. Sirius hung his head.  
"I'll pay you back," Sirius bribed. "Next time you're having a moment with Lily, I won't interrupt!"  
"Deal," James agreed immediately. He handed over his Transfiguration essay, leaving Sirius to look over it.

"Hey!" Sirius shouted. "Hey, Prongs! This isn't even done!"

James grinned over his shoulder and he jogged away. "No interrupting our moments, Padfoot!" he reminded Sirius.

* * *

Marlene began giggling. "What's so funny?" Lily asked automatically. Without a word, Marlene pointed to the doors of the Great Hall.

Turning, Lily spotted James jogging in, laughing maniacally. Sirius was chasing him, waving a piece of parchment and yelling "You lied to me, Prongs! You LIED!"

Rolling her eyes at their antics, Lily returned to her breakfast. "I'm going to Hogsmeade with James this weekend, so you'll have to go with Hestia," Lily said to Marlene conversationally.  
Marlene sulked. "But we were going to go Christmas shopping," she whined. Lily smiled.  
"We'll go another time. The Hogsmeade weekend after, I promise."  
Satisfied with the compromise, Marlene grinned. "Alright. So, is this a _date_?"

"Who's got a date?"

Lily and Marlene turned to see Remus standing behind them curiously. Marlene immediately pointed at Lily, who blushed. "She's going to Hogsmeade with James… _again!_" she said scandalously. Remus sat himself beside Lily and helped himself to some food. "Interesting," was all he said.  
"Remember that safety is important," Marlene added with a snort, resulting in a smack from Lily.  
"Why is that interesting?" Lily demanded from Remus, who shrugged easily.  
"Usually I know about these things," he said simply. "James shouts them from the bathroom."

Uncomfortable with the topic of conversation, Lily turned her attention elsewhere. "Where's Hestia?" Lily asked Marlene. She had a knowing grin on her face that Lily ignored.  
"She went to class early. Apparently she wanted to talk about her spell work or something with Flitwick. Honestly, Lily, she's almost as bad as you. She can already do the bloody spell perfectly."

Lily rolled her eyes. "So Remus, are you coming to Hogsmeade? Maybe you and Marlene should come?"  
Remus blanched immediately. "Uh, I really don't think so Lily," he muttered quickly. "I, uh, have to go see my mother… or something."

He stood to leave, but Lily yanked him down. "Calm down, Remus, I'm only teasing," Lily assured him. Remus gave her a weak grin.

"Not making a move on Prongs' girl, are we Moony?" Sirius exclaimed from behind the two. Lily jumped in surprise, whereas Remus only sighed.  
"Wouldn't dream of it, Padfoot."  
"Yes you would."  
"Where is James, anyway?" Lily asked curiously. Sirius smirked.  
"I'm sure I have no idea," he said smoothly. "Although, there was a curiously loud broomstick cupboard on the second floor I noticed. I wonder what was going on there!"

Lily and Marlene shook their heads. Remus, ever the peacekeeper, left the Great Hall to go and rescue the Head Boy.


	27. Chapter 27

Hogsmeade was upon the school at last, and Lily and James had caught some of the first carriages after a big breakfast. During the ride, James had pulled out a slightly crumpled lily flower from his jacket and offered it to Lily.  
"Thanks, but I don't really like lilies," Lily admitted. James threw the flower out of the carriage, completely unfazed. "I know," he said. "But friends make mistakes sometimes."

The rest of the ride was spent making small talk, with Lily telling James about Remus and Marlene, and how nervous he was. In return, James told Lily about Sirius forcing him into the broom cupboard. "He kept making jokes about me coming out of the closet," James grumbled, making Lily laugh loudly.

At Hogsmeade, as it was still quite early (_"The early bird gets the worm," James had recited_) they took their sweet time strolling about Hogsmeade. "There are some caves on the brink of the town, if you want to go see them," James suggested. Lily shook her head.  
"Let's just window shop for now."

Together they ventured about the main streets of Hogsmeade, feeling the warmth from Honeydukes and the strange quiet from The Three Broomsticks. James paused out the front of Spintwitches to browse the sporting goods, before remembering that Lily was with him and walking away quickly. Deciding against going to the Shrieking Shack (_"It's really not all its hyped up to be once you know the secret, eh?" James had smirked_) the pair turned and went down the side streets. Usually unfrequented by the general student population, these stores were mainly for the residents of Hogsmeade. Clothing stores, material shops, grocers and other handy businesses were open.

James pointed to a white dress in the shop window. "I could see you in that." Lily paused to analyse the dress sceptically. "It's a wedding dress, James."  
"That's the point," he grinned.  
"What, like for our wedding day?" Lily guessed. She was very uncomfortable with the topic of conversation. She truly didn't think that James would bring up a wedding… let alone theirs.  
"No, just yours." At Lily's confused look, James decided to elaborate. "It's like I said in the letter, Lily. Nothing I do over the next 72 hours will change how you feel towards me; either you feel something, or you don't. But, I do hope that when Hogwarts is over and we're older, I am invited to your wedding. I hope our friendship will last that long." He grinned at Lily, who was fiddling with her fingers. "Who knows, maybe I'll even be your best man!"

Lily chuckled. "Usually it's the groom who has a best man."  
"Tradition is boring, Evans. At my wedding, the grooms' party will be wearing Gryffindor quidditch robes," he informed Lily. "And instead of walking down the aisle, everyone will fly on brooms."  
"I never thought you'd be planning so far ahead," Lily said airily. James looked shocked.  
"I'll have you know that I've been thinking about my wedding since roughly fifteen seconds ago!"

Intrigued by the idea of a wedding, James kept badgering Lily about details for her wedding. Surely, as a seventeen year old girl, she'd have thought about it at least once in her life. Refusing to say anything about a wedding that Lily may or may not have already planned, she deflected the conversation by informing James that she had walked in on Hestia actually drawing up her wedding plans, in the Great Hall of all places. Curiously, James had dropped the subject immediately after.

After walking about for so long, the pair decided to go to the Three Broomsticks for some warming up. There, they ran into Remus and Sirius, who thought it was a brilliant idea to crash James' date.  
"We really shouldn't, Padfoot. You know how protective of Lily James is," Remus said anxiously. Sirius waved away his worries. "We'll only stay for a little while. I'm interested to see how their date is going anyway. He could probably use the help," Sirius snickered.  
"You know that's not true. James does perfectly well without us."  
"Yeah, well, whatever. I still wanna see!"  
"Be on your best behaviour, Sirius," Remus warned. Sirius looked offended.  
"I always am, Moony. When am I not?" At Remus' stern look, Sirius slumped. "Fine. You're no fun."

Together they crept up to the couple's table, Remus carefully listening to see if they were interrupting anything important. Sirius, however, had no such qualms and loudly announced his presence.

"Lily, my dear, how wonderful to see you!" he announced, earning a glare from James. Adding to the insult, Sirius swooped and pecked Lily on the cheek before scooting in next to James. Remus, feeling awkward at Sirius' unexpected behaviour, sat next to Lily and gave her an apologetic smile. She looked pleased to see him.  
"Padfoot, what an unexpected surprise," James grumbled. "I'm a bit busy, as you can see."  
Sirius nodded solemnly. "Yes. I can see." He lifted James' empty glass and took a sniff. "Butterbeer is on me!"

Flouncing away from the table, James watched Sirius' unruly hair disappear into the thickening crowd. "Remus, I don't mean to be rude, but you know what's going on today, right?" James asked Remus politely. Lily's eyes were flickering between the two men.  
"I know, James," Remus assured him. "We won't be here long. Sirius is… determined to help you out."  
Lily began snickering. "Relax, James. I'm interested to see how this plays out."

At Lily's amused look, James agreed. If Lily was okay with it, so was he. What was the worst that could happen, anyway? They were his mates!

Sirius reappeared, levitating the four glasses of butterbeer with his wand, just as Lily was asking where Peter was. Without spilling a drop, the glasses placed themselves on the table.  
"Peter is preoccupied," Sirius said before Remus could answer. "I believe he has a date with a certain broomstick cupboard."  
Lily, Remus and James groaned. "Padfoot, you didn't!" Remus scolded. Sirius frowned.  
"I didn't do anything. Peter tripped into it and the cupboard locked itself." At everyone's disapproving faces, Sirius sighed. "Fine, I'll get him out later. The spell will wear off soon anyway."

Nodding, Lily smiled. "So, who's excited for Christmas?" she asked, tracing the rim of her glass with her finger. The three marauders exchanged secret smiles that Lily missed.  
"Very excited indeed," Remus said. "Got a lot planned."  
"Oh, I think I'm going to have a _ball_," Sirius hinted.  
"Nothing else quite like Christmas at Hogwarts," James added before Lily could read into Sirius' comment. Sirius received a kick in the shin for that.  
"So you're staying over the holidays, then?" Lily inferred. They all nodded. "Me too. I think that, just since it's our last Christmas at Hogwarts… ever… we should do something special!"

"I think it's time we left," Sirius said suddenly to Remus, who rose immediately. They said their goodbyes and walked away – Sirius limping in the most subtle manner he could. James was pleased.

James slumped on the table. "I am so, so sorry for that," he mumbled before Lily could bring up any possible Christmas plans. Lily laughed.  
"It's not a problem. I figure you're kind of a package deal." She reached out and placed her hand above James'. "Really. It wasn't even that bad."  
James smiled at her. "I suppose I did expect worse." Catching movement in his peripheral vision, James looked to see Marlene and Hestia entering. Lily turned to see what he was looking at.  
"Should we leave now before we get stuck here?" she suggested. James grinned and nodded.  
"Don't you want to see your friends?" he asked, just to be polite.  
"It's not that," Lily said, but didn't elaborate. James didn't need her to; sometimes, he didn't want to be with his friends either. Lily greeted her friends as she passed but didn't pause to chat.

Outside in the cold, James and Lily walked briskly to the carriages. "I know that I asked for your company until four," James said, "But I've rearranged my plans again."  
"Of course," Lily murmured.  
"You said that three days is equal to thirty six hours, so –"  
"James," Lily interrupted. "Stop."

James was going to argue but Lily placed a surprisingly warm hand on his cheek. "James," she whispered. "You can have all the time you need."  
"Really?"  
"_Yes. _And you don't have to take me on dates or fill my criteria or anything. I already know –" Here, Lily gulped. "The fact that you agreed to my terms and are trying to fulfil them proves to me what I already know."

James heart was beating erratically. Unable to refrain from running a hand through his hair and unable to look away from Lily, he was so sure that he was dreaming. This couldn't be real.

"Everything you've done already has shown me that I was incredibly unfair to you in the past."  
"You thought I was stupid," James muttered.  
"But now I think you're just a different type of intelligent," Lily smiled. "So let's forget this whole challenge. We both understand each other perfectly. I think that this would go a lot smoother if we weren't trying to convince one another of something."

James nodded. "Okay. But still, our last date will be at Christmas."  
"Deal."


	28. Chapter 28

Lily was right. James and Lily got along stupendously, and neither felt pressured by a time limit or an achievement to be reached. In classes, they alternated between sitting with their friends and sitting with each other; if they were particularly lucky, their friends would integrate and sit together.

Potions class wasn't always a breeze, despite James being considerably talented in the class. The Felix Felicis potion was half way through its brewing, though they had had a couple of setbacks. Each class, Lily took the precaution of gathering a sample of the potion before continuing. Her clever thinking meant that any sabotage by the Slytherins – Severus Snape in particular – could easily be remedied by refilling the potion with Lily's sample. James was impressed by her preparation for the worst.

James hadn't asked Lily out yet, but she had a sneaking suspicion that he was waiting for Christmas to do it; he had always liked theatrics and occasions. However, Hestia and Marlene were continuously on Lily's case about their relationship.

"Has he asked you out yet?"  
"No."  
"Not even hinted?"  
"No."  
"Aren't you worried?"  
"No."  
"Maybe you should ask him out."  
"No."  
"Maybe he doesn't want to date you anymore," Marlene had hesitantly suggested.  
"If you're so sure he doesn't want to date me, why are you badgering me every day about whether he has asked me or not?"

After Lily's little snap, her friends had dropped the subject.

* * *

Christmas was just around the corner at only a week and a half away. James and Lily had decorated the Great Hall to absolute perfection and had placed the twelve Christmas trees along the walls. Mistletoe was kept to a minimum thanks to Lily, after having an argument with James about how stressful and pressured it makes the girls (and some boys) feel sometimes.

Lily had decided against getting any presents for her family this year and knew they wouldn't bother either. Besides, Petunia never liked magical gifts in the house, and that was all Lily had access to. Her parents would understand and Lily would explain it in more depth in a letter that she would send… eventually. For now, McGonagall had an announcement to make.

"Excuse me, everyone!" McGonagall unrolled a piece of parchment quickly, all eyes on her. The common room had never been so silent. "At the special request of the Head Boy and Girl, Hogwarts will be hosting a wonderful Christmas ball!" Gasps and cheers were heard about the room; Lily took this time to send a glare James' way, who was absolutely not looking at her. "It will be for Fourth-years and above. The times, dress code and other information can be found –" McGonagall waved her wand and white posters appeared every few metres on the red walls, "On these posters. If anyone has any further questions, you can ask me."

As McGonagall turned to leave, a young fourth year spoke up. "Please, Professor, but when can we go shopping for our clothes?" Other students murmured their agreement.  
"A Hogsmeade trip has been organised for this weekend. With an adult's supervision, you can also go to Diagon Alley. Seventh years, of course, do not need this supervision." With a twirl of her robes, McGonagall had climbed out of the portrait and excited voices had filled the common room.

James made his way over to Lily, but didn't make it before Marlene asked questions. "A _ball? _Lily, why didn't you tell us?"  
"Secret Head business," Lily replied, noticing Hestia's smirk. James tapped Lily on the shoulder.  
"Can we talk?" he asked. He oozed confidence. Lily narrowed her eyes.  
"Yes, I suppose we should," she agreed, getting up and following him a few steps away. He grinned slightly once reaching their destination.  
"So, what do you think? Are you impressed?" he asked hopefully. Lily shook her head, making James slump. "Yes, I know I should have told you and _yes _I should have included you in on the plan but you have to admit that it's a bloody good idea!"

Lily smiled at his defiance. "Yes, it is a good idea. But I'm withholding judgment until I see the design of the Great Hall…" Lily trailed off, eyeing Hestia suspiciously upon remembering her 'wedding plans'. "_No," _she whispered. Her eyes flew to James accusingly. "_Hestia_ _knew_?"  
"I thought it would be beneficial to have a girl on the design committee," James teased. Lily nodded slowly. "Alright, consider me impressed, Potter. But next time, I want in on this bloody plan!"

With a fake frown in his direction, Lily turned to walk away. James followed her with a cocky grin.

"Save me a dance at the ball?" he asked, bending down to talk in her ear. Lily nodded.  
"I can save you plenty, if you like," she flirted. James was only momentarily shocked, but regained his calm and confident demeanour. They had reached Lily's friends without either of them realising.  
"Great, I'll pick you up at eight then," James decided. "Don't forget a mask," he added, walking away from Lily's smiling face.

Lily's grin didn't disappear as she turned to see her gobsmacked friends. "I guess this ball is going to be pretty fun," she said conversationally, "With Hestia's design expertise, at least we'll have something nice to look at, too." Hestia had the grace to look guilty while Marlene was simply confused.

"So when is the ball, exactly?" Marlene asked, deciding to avoid the subject rather than try to understand what was going on. "Grab us a poster, Lily. Let's have a look."  
Lily walked over to where a poster was and tore it off the wall. Looking closely, she realised that Peter had made them. They looked very nice.

Lily cleared her throat and began to read.

"_Attention all fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh year students. A ball will be held on Christmas Eve, starting at 7:30pm. Fourth years will be expected to return to their common rooms by 10; Fifth years by 11; Sixth years by 12; Seventh years by 1. _

_The ball has a masquerade theme, so masks covering the UPPER FACE ONLY will be accepted. Ball gowns are encouraged, as are dress robes. The ball is not compulsory to students._

_ANY STUDENTS FROM FIRST, SECOND OR THIRD YEAR FOUND INFILTRATING THE BALL WILL RECEIVE DETENTION."_

Lily looked up with a grin on her face. Her friends had almost identical expressions. "I guess we get to go shopping," Hestia said happily. "I assume we're going to Diagon Alley?"  
"Of course," Lily and Marlene said simultaneously.


	29. Chapter 29

Diagon Alley was bustling with usual day to day business when Lily and the other seventh year students arrived via floo or apparation. The girls hurried off in one direction while the boys almost immediately headed for Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was after five or so minutes that James finally forced everyone away towards Madam Malkin's for robes. A few Slytherins, who had stayed clear of the other seventh years, went for Twilfitt and Tattings.

Sirius was muttering about them to James. "Honestly, having money doesn't mean you have to use it or show it off. I mean, what's the difference between the two places anyway? Malkin does robes quite nicely, and she's not bad to look at either. Now, if you ask me, -"  
"No one has, Padfoot," Remus interjected, amused at Sirius' rant.  
" – I would say that the woman at Twilfitt is a right old bit-"  
"PADFOOT!" James, Remus and Peter yelled. "Not in public!" James hissed. Sirius frowned.  
"Alright, but you know it's true."

Further down the cobbled path, the Head Girl was trailing her best friends, feeling dispirited. She wasn't in the mood to shop and doubted she'd find anything she liked. Her mind kept drifting to that one dress James pointed out in Hogsmeade…

"Got anything in mind, Lils?" Marlene asked suddenly. Lily jolted back to the present.  
"Um, not really," she lied quickly. Marlene's eyebrow raised doubtfully. Lily sighed. "Well, yes, but it's a wedding dress and entirely inappropriate for the ball."  
"We can always make alterations to it," Hestia reminded Lily, who shrugged pathetically. That sounded like a lot of work, and something would probably go wrong. Lily wasn't that adept at clothing spells.

Hestia and Marlene strolled happily down the streets, chatting away and waving at those they knew from school. Every now and then, the girls darted into a store to have a browse. Hestia found a dress minutes after entering their third store. It was a floor length royal blue dress, with a halter neck and a deep v-neck. With an empire waistline, the skirt flowed in an A-line cut before finishing with a slight train.

In love with her purchase and reenergised by her success, Hestia led the way down the streets once more.

Primarose's Products was a small shop, just about to close down from lack of business. This worked to both Marlene and Lily's advantage, however, because nearly all of the dresses hidden in the corner were on sale. While Hestia had to pay a hefty amount for her gown, Lily and Marlene (should they find a dress here) would only pay a small price.

Splitting up to find their dresses, Lily browsed half-heartedly. Cursing her hair colour, she decided that a white dress wouldn't clash too horribly, and a white mask would actually be quite elegant. After looking through nearly half of the dresses, Lily gave up and walked over to Marlene, who was critiquing each dress with Hestia.

"I love the red, I really do, but I think it might be a bit bold."  
"Maybe you should get a slit in the dress so you can dance properly?"

Seeing Lily, they asked if she had had any luck. Sullenly, Lily shook her head. "Being a red head really limits my choices," Lily grumbled. Hestia shook her head.  
"That's not true. You can go for really bold colours; a deep blue, a dark purple, brown even! Wearing green would bring out your eyes, as well," Hestia encouraged. Marlene was nodding along enthusiastically.  
Lily smiled at her friend's kindness. "I think I'll stick with white," she said. "Elegant and simple."

Marlene pointed to her left. "There's some white dresses over there you might like." With a nod of thanks, Lily walked over to the racks, desperate to find the perfect dress.  
Distantly, she head cries of delight as Marlene found her dress; seconds later, she appeared around the corner holding a champagne coloured gown. Marlene held it against her body adoringly.  
"Sparkly sleeves, Lily! What more could a girl want?" Marlene squealed. Lily laughed.  
"That's gorgeous, Marlene. Why don't you go try it on? I'll be there in a minute, I think I've found…" Lily pulled a dress out at random. "I'll try this."

Marlene led the way to the changing rooms, Lily looking at her choice of dress. It looked a bit too frilly in the skirt, and she wasn't sure if she wanted the strapless style…

Within seconds of trying it on, Lily was in love with the dress.

The sweetheart neckline emphasised Lily's modest curves. The lace overlays on the skirt, though originally obvious and gaudy, now looked flattened, textured and elegant. The bodice hugged her figure and was patterned, so when Lily ran her hands down her sides, it felt rough and bumpy. Tiny diamantes were embedded in the pattern so it glimmered when she walked. Lily exited the changing room to find Marlene already out, admiring herself in the larger mirror. She squealed when she saw Lily in the reflection.

"Lily, you look marvellous!" she cried. Hestia appeared holding two pairs of shoes in each hand, nodding earnestly in agreement. "James is going to be a mess when he sees you. You look beautiful."

Lily took a moment to look over Marlene's dress, which had a dipped back that was edged with a thick line of intertwined sequins, that went around to the front of the dress and wrapped under her bust. "Where's the leg slit?" Lily teased. Marlene laughed and shook her head.  
"The skirt is loose enough that I can do the splits with no problem," Marlene said, demonstrating her amazing athleticism for them. "I think I can waltz just fine."

Hestia had a pair of white heels that Lily took, a dark blue pair for herself, and a pink or a silver pair for Marlene. After wearing one of each shoe, she decided on the pink.

After paying for their gowns (the total price for both dresses added up to Hestia's alone)and shoes, the trio headed back to the Leaky Cauldron to floo back to Hogwarts. On their way, they passed the Marauder's, two of which seemed to be arguing.

"Padfoot, I'm not doing that!"  
"Come on, Prongs! We can be matching!"  
Frustrated, James ran a hand through his already unruly hair. "Sirius. Mate. You can do it if you like, but I'm going plain. You can be the life of the party on your own."

James strolled away, Sirius giving him a moment's head start before jogging after him, calling "We're_ Gryffindors, _Prongs! Be proud of it!"

By Lily's side, Hestia began snickering. At the questioning looks of the two girls, she simply said "I can't wait to see Sirius' mask."


	30. Chapter 30

Hogwarts was booming with excitement. Dinner was a quick affair as there would be food served at the ball, and many girls didn't want to feel bloated before dancing. The boys had no such qualms; they all piled up their plates and ate until their stomachs were full.

In the common rooms, instead of fighting over the mirrors, the older students conjured extra mirrors for the younger levels. The joy of having a ball meant that no one wanted any fights or scuffles to break out – particularly, no one wanted to be pushed while doing their hair and makeup, though no one would ever admit to being that vain.

Most fourth years had disappeared by the time seven thirty rolled around. As Lily was expected to be at the ball by eight, she knew she better get a move on and was hurrying around the dormitory quickly.

Downstairs, lounging in the entrance hall, James and Sirius were waiting patiently. "Did you even ask anyone?" James asked Sirius curiously. He shook his head.  
"Nah mate, I'm going stag," he grinned. His masquerade mask was twirling in his hands. "Gotta be free for all the ladies, you know."

James eyed Sirius' mask. It was a gaudy red and gold thing, which Sirius was very proud of because he designed it himself. James offered to tie it for Sirius.  
"Alright," he agreed. "But mind the hair, alright?"

Chuckling, James tied the black ribbon around Sirius' head. He adjusted the hair so it returned to its original puffy curls. Sirius turned with a big grin on his face. "When should I start up the magic?"  
James kept his mouth firmly shut and simply shrugged as a reply.

The clock struck eight and butterflies erupted in James' stomach. "She's late," James said immediately. Sirius laughed and clapped him on the back. "Prongs, the clock hasn't even stopped striking!"

As James craned his neck to see around the stairs, Marlene McKinnon appeared in pink. Sirius let out a whistle.

The next bong, Hestia Jones in blue.

Finally, what seemed like a lifetime later, Lily appeared on the stairs as the clock struck for the last time. James couldn't comprehend that the girl of his dreams was walking down the stairs towards him, looking so beautiful. Her gorgeous red hair was falling in soft waves down her back – the only giveaway that it was actually Lily, because her matching white mask completely hid any defining features besides her smile.

Which was currently directed at James.

He felt a nudge on his side and looked to see Sirius standing with Remus, who were both grinning. "Best of luck, mate," Remus murmured. Sirius nodded in agreement, before opening his arms wide. "Miss Marlene McKinnon, how lovely to see you dear," he bellowed, greeting her with a deep bow. Marlene curtseyed in reply. "Mr Black," she mocked. "I adore your mask."

Sirius beamed. He raised his wand, ignoring the groans from his mates, and tapped his mask. Immediately, the giant gold lion that was resting on the left side of the mask came to life. It began prowling along the top of the mask with the occasional roar. Marlene was completely unimpressed and strode away. Sirius chased her.

Hestia had appeared next to Remus and was chatting quietly, before linking her arm through his bravely and leading the way to the dance floor. James was surprised; he thought that he was crushing on Marlene.

There was no more time to ponder on that, however. Lily was just stepping off the last stair. Hurriedly, James went to her side and held out his arm. "Why, this can't be the Head Girl!" he teased. Lily graciously took hold of his arm. "Surely you aren't the arrogant Head Boy I know so well?" Lily replied, making James chuckle.  
"You do look beautiful," he murmured in her ear. "Even with a mask."  
A light blush appeared on her face. "You don't clean up too badly either."

Together they moved to the dance floor, the crowd parting for the pair. Lily tried to subtly look at James while they walked. James looked astounding in his plain black, shiny mask. He was wearing a black suit with a white shirt and black tie. To Lily's utmost pleasure, she could see the edges of a vest under the suit jacket if she looked hard enough.

Lily loved a suit and vest ensemble.

"So what do you think of the set up?" James asked suddenly, gesturing to the Great Hall. Lily had a quick glance around the room. Floating golden lights were lighting up the hall, and icicles were dangling from the roof and walls. Snow drifted down, evaporating before landing on any heads. Lily could see an elf or two dressed in Christmas wear. The tables and chairs were matching in circular style and colour. Thick pale blue silk ribbons were tied around each chair.  
"Yes, Hestia has done quite well indeed. White and blue make for a very bright Christmas theme."  
James smirked. "And how about the statues? Do you like them"  
"What statues?"

Lily was suddenly twirled to the left by James, who was softly chuckling in her ear. She looked up to see an ice statue of a boy and girl, obviously in the middle of a dance. The girl was dipped so her hair was touching the floor, her leg high in the air.

Around the room, there were other statues much like the one before her. They were always of two people (some were of the same gender, because the marauders did _not _like discrimination) in dancing positions. In the centre of the room, a giant swan was gleaming. "It's all very beautiful, James."  
"The girl and boy are meant to be us," James murmured, pushing Lily's hair away from her face. The movement sent shivers up Lily's spine. "A tribute to the Head Boy and Girl who made this ball happen."

Lily smiled. "Let's dance. You can show me if you can actually dip me that low."

James complied. Other partners made room on the floor to watch them twirl about. Lily, giggling the entire time and struggling to keep up, had a wonderful time and only shrieked when James dipped her for the first time. Lily had clung on to James for dear life, fearful that she may fall while also feeling safe in his strong arms.

Each dance was a different speed that James adapted to easily. At Lily's persistent questioning, he admitted that his parents had put him through lessons so he could make a good impression at the higher-class parties. Lily inferred this meant the pureblood society, and dropped the subject.

Throughout the evening, Lily was having a difficult time thinking about anything other than James. He was talkative and polite – regardless of any innuendos or suggestive flirts he used – and made Lily laugh. She had just gotten over his flattering attire when after a particularly fast paced song, James took off his suit jacket and tie, rolled up his sleeves and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt. Noticing Lily watching, James couldn't help but grin. He took her into his arms and began to slow dance, despite the upbeat tempo.

"What are you looking at?" he smiled. His hazel eyes bore into her green ones. Lily bit her lip and looked away, increasingly aware of the heat his arms were producing on her lower back.  
"You," she said finally.  
James laughed. "Not a surprise, but in particular," he pressed, feeling Lily shift her arms up from his shoulders. Her hands now intertwined on the back of his neck. "You just look really handsome tonight," Lily admitted. At James' wide grin, Lily began laughing. "Now, don't go all cocky on me, it was just an observation!"

"An observation, and a compliment! What a lucky guy I am," James teased. "You look astounding too, did I mention?"  
"About three times now, yes."  
"Well, it's the truth! But you know where that dress would look better?" James flirted. Lily rolled her eyes. "On the floor?" she guessed. James frowned.  
"On no one else, because you're a beautiful individual."  
"Nice save."

After more chatter and dancing the two finally decided to sit down and have something to drink. "Sirius has spiked the punch," James warned. Lily waved off his worries.  
"I'm sure I can handle a glass," she said. With a keen eye, she watched James walk off to the refreshments table.

"Careful, Lily! One might say that you're perving."  
"So what if I am, Hestia? Men look nice in suits. There's nothing wrong with admiring a piece of art," Lily said coyly. Once James was completely out of sight, she turned to face her friend with a sheepish grin. To Lily's horror, Remus was at her side, smirking. "Oh Merlin. Please never repeat that, Remus! I'm begging you!"  
Remus laughed easily. "I'm sure you were talking about that ice sculpture over there," he said smoothly. "Quite the artwork. Shall we find a table?"

Nodding in confirmation, Lily followed Remus and Hestia to a table just a few metres away. The table was round and covered in a white, glittery cloth. A bouquet of roses of every colour was in the centre of the table. Quickly, James returned with two glasses of punch, handing one to Lily with a smile. "Where's Padfoot disappeared to?" he asked Remus, who shrugged.

Little did they know, Sirius was far away upstairs with Marlene, having a heated moment in a broomstick cupboard.

"So, I'll be honest with you Moony. Not to make your date awkward or anything, but I thought you would have brought Marlene tonight?" James asked quickly. Hestia looked unfazed by the question, and Remus seemed comfortable. "I figured she was more Sirius' type," he said simply, with a twinkle in his eye. "And James, I can't believe you let him show up with this atrocity!"

He threw Sirius' Gryffindor-themed mask onto the table. James immediately flicked it away.

"I tried to convince him out of it," he said over Hestia's giggles. "Really, though. I was lucky I didn't have to wear one just like it. He made me one, you know!"  
Lily peeked up at James, trying to imagine him in a red mask. "The black suits you better," she said, after deciding the red didn't work at all. "Besides, it would clash with my hair."

James wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortably. "I'm glad you think I'm handsome," he said breezily. Lily's mouth dropped open. "I did _not _…" She trailed off. Not an hour ago she had said that, hadn't she?  
"I think everyone here looks handsome," Hestia interjected with a smile. Lily nodded.

Over in the distance, Lily spotted Professors McGonagall and Flitwick herding students out of the hall. "What's going on?" Lily asked quickly, craning her neck to see better. James pushed her down gently. "It's eleven," he explained. "Fifth years have to go."  
"Oh."

Someone thumped down in the seat next to Lily, then groaned loudly. "My head hurts, Evans!" She turned around. "Are you drunk, Sirius Black" she demanded. Remus and James started laughing. "Come on, mate, it's not even midnight yet!" Remus joked.  
"You haven't even been near the refreshment table tonight!" James added. Sirius rest his head on his arms. "You haven't really been here at all tonight, actually," he realised.

Remus suddenly had a very clever idea. "Hey, Padfoot," he said gently, "Where'd your mask go?"  
"I ditched it," Sirius mumbled. Remus smirked.  
"Where? Why?"  
"I'm so popular, everyone already knows who I am, even with a mask on!" Sirius said defiantly. "And why does it matter where I dropped it, Moony?"  
Remus threw the mask back at him, having picked it up without anyone realising it when James tried to get rid of it. "I thought you might like it back. It was such good magic, after all."

Sirius eyed the mask suspiciously. He had left the mask on the floor outside of the classroom, where Marlene had thrown it…

Now, Sirius may have been drunk, but he certainly wasn't daft. He realised that Remus knew only too well that he had been with Marlene for almost the entire night.  
"I can explain," Sirius began, but Remus silenced him with a glare.  
"No need. I think my mask got stolen, to be honest," Remus said sadly. "It's a pity, it was such a nice mask." Remus had matched his mask with Hestia's dress. The blue looked good with his pale face.

"Well, I think we should get this party moving!" James declared suddenly. Sirius cheered in agreement. "Not you, Padfoot. Lily, would you like to dance?"  
"Not really," Lily said. Her feet were sore.  
"Excellent." James pulled her to her feet and out onto the dance floor. A slow song began to play, the lights in the Hall dimmed. James gently pulled off Lily's mask, letting it drop to the floor. He did the same to his own.

"I've really enjoyed tonight," he murmured, pulling Lily's arms up around his neck. Once he was sure they would stay, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "You're a wonderful dancer."  
Lily laughed. "I've just been letting you lead," she admitted. James rolled his eyes.  
"Same thing. So, I'm sure you know why I haven't asked you out yet," he began. Lily shrugged.  
"Maybe. One can never be too sure of anything."  
"True. Maybe that's why I'm nervous."

James looked away for a moment, but Lily didn't allow that. She reached up, cupping his face in her hand. "Don't be nervous," she whispered.  
"I'll stop beating around the bush then," James grinned. "Lily Evans; girl of my dreams, the most perfect girl I could ever meet, and my fellow head girl; will you please do me the honour of marrying me?"  
Lily was nodding before he finished speaking. "Yes!" she squealed.

Then, she realised what James had said.

"Wait, what?" Lily was shocked. That is not what she expected to hear! He skipped all of the bases! "What happened to… you know… the girlfriend stage?"  
"No take backs! You agreed!" James said gleefully. He skipped out of her reach when she tried to smack him.  
"James Potter! You come back here and do this properly or I swear to God this will be the worst day of your life!" Lily places her hands on her hip fiercely, ignoring the eyes that she suddenly felt on her back.

James sighed and sullenly stood in front of her. "Fine," he grumbled. "Lily?" He sunk onto one knee and revealed a velvet box in his hand. "Will you marry me?"  
"POTTER!"  
"WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND, THEN?"  
Without thinking, Lily threw herself into James' arms. The clock began to strike midnight. "Yes," she whispered with a huge smile on her face. "Of course I will!"

With a sigh of relief, James wrapped his arms tightly around Lily. The day had come at last; he could finally say _Lily Evans, my girlfriend._

Cheers were heard around the Great Hall, which the two ignored until they broke apart. Blushing, Lily looked down at her feet. James stood proudly though, grinning widely. He led them to their friends, who were standing over by the door. Lily realised the boys were having an argument.

"He asked her before midnight!" Remus was saying.  
"But she said yes on midnight!" Sirius insisted.  
Peter was rolling his eyes. "This bet was too confusing! All bets are off!"  
Remus was in agreement. "Next time, we need to make the time frame more clear!"  
The marauders put their money bags away and grinned sheepishly when they noticed James, hand in hand with Lily.

"I'm not even going to ask," James said, though he had an accusing look in his eyes. Sirius, feeling slightly guilty, looked around for a distraction.  
"Hey, look!" he pointed upwards. He darted out into the Entrance Hall, the other boys following him quickly. "Mistletoe!"

Hestia quietly walked through the doorway, going unnoticed by James or Lily, who were too busy staring at each other. James leaned down a little bit, which resulted in Lily leaning away from him nervously. Lily giggled. "I'm sorry, you just surprised me," she smiled.

James carefully placed his left hand behind Lily's neck, his hand getting tangled in her luscious hair. "Don't reject me," he pleaded, smiling slightly. He leaned down with purpose, his hand ensuring that Lily couldn't back away.

It wasn't Lily's first kiss by any means, but when their lips touched, a fire erupted deep in her stomach that she had never felt before. James' lips were soft and warm; she immediately granted his tongue access and responded eagerly. Pulling her closer with both arms, James slowly let his right hand wonder down Lily's lower back, then even further down the soft curve of her ass…

"Don't cop a feel in front of us!" Sirius shouted. Lily and James jumped apart immediately, flushing both from happiness and embarrassment. James was so caught up in Lily that he forgot he was in public. "Maybe you should go away then," he shot back at Sirius, who gave a bark of laughter.

A rush of footsteps grabbed everyone's attention as a puffed Marlene rushed around the corner, holding up her skirts. Seeing her friends waiting for her, she stopped and caught her breath. "What did I miss?"


	31. Chapter 31

All was quiet in Hogwarts until about eight in the morning, when Lily awoke. She was, as usual, the first of her dorm mates awake. But not for long, if Lily had anything to do with it!

"Wake up, Marlene, its Christmas!" Lily shouted as she jumped on her best friend. Her yells woke her other dorm mates, who grumbled and called obscenities at the Head Girl.  
"Sorry, girls, but rise and shine!" she yelled, jumping on each one in turn. "Hestia, up you get! Remus is waiting for you!"

Hestia stretched and smiled at Lily. "Merry Christmas, Mrs Potter," she teased, before rolling over and attempting to get back to sleep. Lily yanked Hestia's pillow out from under her head and started hitting her with it.

"Ow – Ouch – OW! ALRIGHT! I'M UP!"

"_Shut up, guys," _Mary MacDonald's quiet voice came. Lily began laughing.  
"Oh, no, Mary! Come on! It's Christmas! Aren't you excited?"  
"In a few hours."

Lily heard Marlene begin to snore softly again. Disappointed in her friends' lack of enthusiasm, Lily got out her wand threateningly. Choosing Marlene as her first victim, Lily murmured "Arguamenti!" and hit Marlene with a spray of water.

Spluttering and furious, Marlene jumped out of bed and began chasing Lily around the dormitory. Pleased at her success, Lily laughed. "I'm glad you're awake!" she said as she turned and went into the bathroom. "I want everyone dressed and ready with their presents in fifteen minutes!"

Jumping in the shower, Lily hummed to herself. She did love Christmas.

Finally, fifteen minutes later – ignoring Mary's pleas about staying in bed, mourning her parents' death, saying she had dragon pox, trying to bribe Lily to allow her a few more hours of sleep, and pretending to have forgotten her presents – the four descended down to the common room. Mary waved goodbye to the trio, heading for the Ravenclaw common room to spend Christmas with her sister. "I bet she won't be up," she said pointedly to Lily, who simply shrugged and smiled.

They turned to the couches in front of the fire, only to find them already occupied. Disgruntled, Lily had every intention of kicking whoever had stolen their seats out of them, only to find it was the marauders, and they did not look happy.

"Are you aware," Sirius said grumpily, "Of how early it is in the morning?"  
Marlene snorted and fell into the seat beside him. "Don't remind me."  
"Are you also aware of how loud you can scream?" Remus added, before blushing at his unintentional innuendo. James started laughing loudly. "Oh, Moony. Don't ever change."

Hestia and Lily sat directly in front of the fire on the floor. "Enough chit chat, present time!" Lily announced. After a moment, she looked at Sirius sadly. "I'm afraid I didn't get you anything, Sirius," she said. "I didn't want to fuel your ego too much."  
He waved off her comment. "I already have everything I want in the world, anyway."

Lily caught James' eye. He winked at her, pulling something from his pocket. "Are you sure, Padfoot?"  
"Yes."  
"Truly?"  
"Yes! Why?"  
James sighed. "Then I guess you don't want this…"

He held out his hand. In his palm, a real chocolate kitten. Lily recognised it from Honeydukes, on her and James' first date, when he offered to buy it for her. That made her smile.

The kitten was pawing James' hand at that particular moment, looking deliberately adorable. Sirius' jaw dropped. "Prongs! You shouldn't have!" he cried, gently picking up the cat and holding it close to his chest. "I've always wanted to eat a – "

Lily couldn't help but laugh as she watched Sirius' face go from gleeful to horrified.

"Why did it just poo on me, Prongs?" Sirius asked quietly. "It just… shit… on me…"  
"They're chocolate cherries," James explained happily. "Its poo is edible!"  
After a moment of deliberation, Sirius began nodding. "I love it! Thanks, mate!"

Everyone began handing presents to each other, erupting into smaller conversations. Lily gave Peter an arts and crafts set, which made him blush profusely. Quietly, he stumbled out a "thanks, Lily," before giving her a large amount of Chocolate Frogs.

For Remus, a large tome on defence against magical creatures, as Lily knew Defence Against the Dark Arts was his favourite class. In return, he gave her a silver chain necklace which she immediately put on.

Marlene received a beauty kit from Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions, which made her smile. "This has come at the perfect time, Lily," Marlene thanked her.  
"Ah, well, gotta keep you vain somehow," Lily teased. Hestia had received some blue sapphire earrings, about an inch in length. Hestia immediately put them in her ears. "It's just costume jewellery," Lily laughed, "But they're still really pretty!"

The boys (except Sirius) looked confused as they eavesdropped on their conversation. "They don't look like they should be worn with a costume," Peter said finally. Sirius rolled his eyes.  
"Costume jewellery is just a term used for fake jewellery. It's a knock off of actual jewels."  
Nodding in understanding, the boys didn't question how Sirius knew that, so the girls followed their lead.

Lastly, James received a broomstick care kit from Lily who was grinning mischievously. "I know how you love that stick of yours," she giggled. James raised an eyebrow.  
"Maybe I'll show you how to look after it one day," he replied casually, admiring the kit. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily blushing profusely.

Serves her right. You don't start an innuendo war with James Potter.

"Oh, I almost forgot," James said suddenly. He reached into his pocket and threw a little box at Lily. "Here. Merry Christmas."  
Lily opened the box to reveal a gold ring with a giant ruby encased in diamonds. Small garnets were encrusted in the band of the ring all the way around.

Shocked, she looked to James for an explanation. He was looking at her already with a small smile on his face. Biting her lip, Lily quickly gestured for him to follow her. The couple moved to a corner table; the very same one James had asked her to the ball at.

James watched Lily struggle to find words. "I can't take this," Lily said at last. "It's too…"  
"It was my grandmothers," James said softly, taking hold of Lily's hand, ensuring that she held on to the box. "She'd be proud to know you're the girl I want to give it to."  
"James, I'm not ready for this," Lily whispered. James lifted her head a little and smiled.  
"Hey, you don't have to be. It's alright. I just want you to keep it. Merlin knows you'll be wearing it one day."  
Lily looked amused. "Are you sure about that?"  
"I've been sure about it for a few years now," James said earnestly. "So keep it. You don't have to put it on right away. Whenever you're ready. I have every intention of marrying you, Lily Evans. I know that one day you'll want to marry me too."

"Well, I don't know about that," Lily teased.

But as James leaned down to kiss her softly, holding Lily in his arms, accepting that she doesn't want to marry him yet, and knowing that she may not be ready for a long time, Lily wondered if marrying James would be such a bad thing.


	32. Epilogue

Lily had finally reached the stomach of the dragon. Hurrying down the stairs, somehow managing to not break her neck, she found James in the Great Hall for lunch.

"James!" she called happily. He looked over with a grin on his face. "I've made it to the stomach!"

Understanding dawned on his face so he made room for Lily on the bench. He wrapped an arm around her waist. "Alright, how about we smash it on the table? I'm not really in the mood to eat all the chocolate, are you?" Lily shrugged.  
"I don't know, it was nice chocolate," she said noncommittally. Handing it over to James, she was excited to see what was inside.

"On three?" James suggested. Lily nodded. "One, two… three!"

With a loud bang, James thumped the dragon belly onto the table. Seconds later, Lily started screaming.

"What the HELL is THAT?" Lily screeched. James was equally shocked at what was before him. The rest of the school, intrigued by the noise, crowded around to see. Lily's friends got there first.

"Don't tell me that's what I think it is," Hestia gulped. Marlene looked disgusted as well.  
"I think I'm going to vomit," she said.

Sirius pushed his way through the crowd to see what was going on. "Prongs, what's… oh, _awesome! _Is that a real dragon's heart?" Overjoyed, Sirius leaned between James and Lily to pick it up. The bloody, green heart was slightly larger than Sirius' hand. He tossed it between his hands, each catch making an odd squishy noise.  
"Alright, I am actually going to be sick," Marlene whispered, then pushed her way through the crowd and out of sight.

Sirius paid her no mind. "Oi! Moony! Catch!"  
Throwing it into the crowd in the general direction of Remus, who cleverly moved out of the way, screams were heard throughout the hall as the students tried their best to stay out of range of the heart.

Lily was still in shock, hardly paying attention to what was going on around her. "James… I was eating that chocolate! It was probably contaminated! Merlin, that chocolate tasted _nice!_"  
James looked unsure as to what to say. "Let's just never get one ever again, alright?"  
"Never ever again."


End file.
